FREE ESSAY ON JUVENILES AND THE DEATH PENALTY

JUVENILES AND THE DEATH PENALTY

Children Doing Crimes That End up In The Chamber
It was a warm summer evening in a small town in the state of Missouri. John Freshman, a
white male gang member fourteen years of age, drives down a street that he knows his
rival gang members are usually standing along. John pulls his 9 MM. automatic pistol out
from underneath his seat and points it at the group of rival gang members. John opens
fire and unloads his weapon at anybody standing along the street. As John pulls away from
the area, he almost gets into an accident with a parked vehicle and drops his weapon.
When John regains control of the vehicle he shouts " blood killer coming down the road."
When the ambulance and police arrive, they find five people dead two children and one
grand mother in the house, and two gang members in the street dead. The police find the
weapon and test for fingerprints. They come back to John Freshman AKA "Lone G." John has
been in juvenile hall nine times and has been on probation or in custody for the past
five years. John is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The previous statement is not real but it portrays the life of our country. This
statement can be read and seen all over the country in newspapers and watched on the five
o'clock news. Was John's sentencing appropriate? Should have John been sentenced to the
death penalty? Is John old enough to be put to death? This paper will try to answer these
questions.
Terms
Juvenile - A young Person, one below the legally established age of adulthood. A person
under the age of eighteen when the crime was committed.
Death Penalty- Capital punishment, sentenced to death.
What age is too young for the death penalty? A better question is what age is it too
young to die for the murder of another human person. In the United States, the Supreme
Court ruled that juvenile under the age of sixteen should not be sentenced to death
because they are too young. This was upheld in the case of Thompson V. Oklahoma (487 U.S.
815,1988). Since juveniles are beginning to get more violent in their acts, should the
age be lowered? For instance, the previous scenario states that it was a fourteen year
old doing the crime. What if it was a twelve year old? When does a juvenile have to pay
fully for the crime he or she committed? If you look at the juvenile criminal statistics
today and compare them to twenty years ago, we see a dramatic decrease in violent crime
and increase use of death penalty sentences. For example, Proffessor Victor Strieb From
Claude W. Petit College of Law (Death Penalty for Juveniles) stated juveniles are one to
two percent of all people on death row in the United States, although they commit more
than fifty percent of all the murders in the United States. As we look at the history of
juveniles sentenced to death, we see that the rate has been steady and has fluctuated by
little more than five percent. 
The History of the death penalty for juveniles began around 1642 with the execution of
Thomas Graunger. Thomas Graunger was executed in Plymouth Colony Massachusetts for a
crime he committed when he was sixteen years old. He became the first recorded juvenile
in what was to become the United States to be executed for an offense committed under the
age of eighteen. There were 343 executions of juveniles before the Supreme Court repelled
the death penalty. "There have been 13 executions of convicted juveniles since the
beginning of the new era. Just like adults, the state of Texas is the leader of juvenile
executed with seven. There has been seven Caucasians, five African Americans and one
Latino executed. Twelve of those executed were seventeen when they did the crime."
(Strieb, Juveniles on death row) Before June 30, 1988, thirty people were on death row
for crimes committed while under the age of eighteen. As of June 1999, there are seventy
people on death row for crimes they committed when they were juveniles. About one in
fifty of the more than thirty four hundred individuals on death row in the United States
were convicted of crimes committed when they were under the age of eighteen (Amnesty
Int.). Three fourths of the seventy were seventeen when they did the crime. This means
that most of these convicted juveniles were still suppose to be in high school and were
old enough to drive.
What makes a juvenile old enough to be put to death for his actions? Most juveniles in
the United States can drive at the age of sixteen. They can also legally work and attend
school. Therefore, what keeps the juvenile from assuming the responsibilities for his
actions? For Steve Roach, it means he was seventeen and he admits his wrong doing but
says he's a different person now since he's been sentenced to death row (Glasser 26). The
debate has two sides: one that says the death penalty is wrong for this juvenile because
he was misguided, lived in a bad neighborhood and didn't have a daddy around when he was
growing up. For some people this is a good enough reason to keep this juvenile from
meeting his maker. For the other side of the debate they say he was old enough to do the
crime, then he was old enough to do the punishment. This side of the debate states that
it was the convicted juveniles choice to shot the seventy year old grand mother in the
chest with a shotgun. 
The first side of the debate, opponents of the death penalty, feels that it is cruel and
unusual punishment (Amnesty Int. 1). They also think it does not deter anybody from doing
crimes. It is barbaric and uncivilized. The age of the juveniles also is used in their
argument to portray a helpless little boy or girl that went astray. Opponents also use
the mentality of the individual as a reason not to sentence a juvenile to death (Feld
94). For example, opponents say that if the mental capacity of a seventeen-year-old is
actually the age of a ten-year-old then he should not be sentenced to death.
The supporters of the death penalty think that the death penalty is used for good reason.
One of those reasons is to deter other juveniles from trying to do the same crime.
Another reason is the punishment fits the crime. In addition the death penalty is not
cruel because the individual laying on the gurney waiting for the lethal injection feels
nothing do to sedatives and painkillers. Another reason is that the world and the United
States have been executing individuals since the beginning of time.
Another approach to debating the death penalty issue and the lowering of the age limit is
buy using mental capacity test. For example, in the case of Michael Dominguez, convicted
in 1994 for the murder of his next door neighbor and her four-year-old son in their home
in March 1993 (Landau). The court took in account Michael Domingues was in his right mind
and was mentally capable of doing such a horrible crime as double murder. The standard
for the judicial system to follow is based on the individual's mental age. For example, a
five year old does not know or understand the weapon in his hand could fire and kill
someone but a four teen year old knows that it can. 
A seventeen - year - old, Douglas Christopher was sentenced to death in Virginia, because
he shot and killed his girlfriends (Jessica Wiseman's) parents. Wiseman's parents forbade
them to have any personal relations and that was the reason that both of them thought of
killing the parents. Douglas Christopher was sentenced to death and Jessica was sentenced
to juvenile detention. They both should have been sentenced to death because they both
knew what they were doing and the consequences of their actions.
As the rate of juvenile murderers increase, the number of juveniles on death row should
rise also. As the age for juveniles that can be sentenced to death been set too high for
today' times. Most people in the bigger cities are starting to think it should be lowered
to an age that can equip the judges with some type of sentencing that would deter all
people, including juveniles. Most juveniles think they can get away with most things
because they are juveniles but where are the line drawn for juveniles. The best way to
deter juveniles from committing murder and other horrible crimes is to make sure that a
juvenile can't get away with killing a person by serving only a few years in a juvenile
detention center.
?Bibliography
Amherst, Sherry Dicks Ed. Young Blood: juvenile justice and the death penalty: New York,
N.Y. C. 1995.
Amnesty Int.: Http://www.web.amnesty.org 10/30/00.
Feld Barry. Bad Kids: Race and the transformation of the juvenile court: Oxford
University, New York, C 1999.
Glasser, Paul. Families in crisis, New York , C 1970. 
Hale Robert L. Lewingston, A review of juvenile Executions in America, , New York, New
York. C.1997.
Landau, Alisha. Teens and the death Penalty: Hillside, N.J. C.1992.
Point / Counterpoint: Correctional Issues. Lanham, Md. C. 1998. 
Schooler, Mike. The Atlanta Journal Constitution: "Delusional Teen Killer" Pg 1
08/22/00.
Streib, Victor. Death Penalty for Juveniles: Bloomington, Indiana. C. 1987.
Streib, Victor. Juveniles and the death penalty {videorecording}: Princeton, N.J. C.
1989.
Streib, Victor. Juveniles on Death Row: Amherst N.Y. C. 1995.
University of Alaska, Anchorage: Http:// www.uaa.alaska.edu 11/12/00.
Children Doing Crimes 
That End Up In 
The Chamber