NCJ Number
126928
Date Published
1990
Length
6 pages
Annotation
As of October 1, 1990, 31 persons in the United States were on death row for crimes committed while under 18 years of age.
Abstract
The 31 juveniles constitute 1.3 percent of the total death row population of 2,393. All are male and were convicted for murder. Of the total, 13 are black, 2 are Hispanic, and 16 are white. Most victims are between 18 and 49 years of age, white, and female. The practice of sentencing juveniles to death remains at a remarkably low rate. The annual number of juvenile death sentences was 6 in 1984, 7 in 1986, 2 in 1987, 5 in 1988, 2 in 1989, and 7 as of October 1990. The constitutionality of the juvenile death penalty has been the subject of intense litigation. In June 1988, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Thompson v. Oklahoma that the minimum age for imposition of the death penalty is 16 years. In June 1989, the court ruled in Stanford v. Kentucky that the eighth amendment does not prohibit the death penalty for crimes committed at 16 or 17 years of age, regardless of State statutory provisions. Brief sketches of the 31 juvenile death sentence cases are presented by State.