How To Kill The Juvenile Death Penalty

Holly Near once said, “Why do we kill people, who kill people, to show that killing people is wrong?” The contradiction of the purpose for having the death penalty is superb. If the government believes that killing people is wrong, why do the government kill people who perform the act they are against? The death penalty is a punishment of execution, administered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime. Capital crime can be classified as first degree murder, murder with special circumstances, rape with bodily harm or federal treason. The death penalty in America was influenced by the British. When British settlers came to America they bought the practice of capital punishment to each colony. Laws regarding the death

The U.S. is part of only a handful of countries that allow the execution of juvenile offenders. Currently, 38 states authorize the death penalty; 23 of these permit the execution of offenders who committed capital offenses prior to their 18th birthdays. Victor

Capital punishment, otherwise known as the death penalty, is a controversial subject which has been argued for decades due to the ethical decisions involved. People believe the death penalty is the right thing to do and that it is the perfect example of ‘justice’ while others believe that it is immoral and overly expensive. The death penalty is not a logical sentence for criminals, it doesn’t give them the right type of justice and it is immoral.

There are many controversial issues in our world today, and each of those issues is well debated by people who either support it or absolutely loathe it. One of those highly debated controversial issues is the juvenile death penalty. Since the Roper v. Simmons case in 2005, sentencing juveniles to death is considered illegal on the grounds that it violates the Eighth Amendment rights (Babcock 6). Although it is considered illegal in the United States, it is still a highly debated problem. There are people that believe the juvenile death penalty is an effective punishment and should not be illegal. On the other hand, many believe that the juvenile death penalty is an extreme punishment and should not be an option when it comes to sentencing juveniles. With such a critical issue, it is only considered fair to understand both sides opinions about the juvenile death penalty.

The death penalty has been one of the most argumentive issues of our contemporary system of justice. In 1990, Tennessee was one of the first four states to exclude those with intellectual disabilities from the death penalty. It was the last Southern state to resume executions in the modern era. Since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1978, states are permitted to have their own capital punishment laws. Capital punishment remains a legal sentence under Tennessee laws. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights requires that the death penalty is only implemented for the most serious crimes and never upon those who were under 18 years of age at the time of their crime. Although the death penalty is generally tolerated

Tennessee, like many other states, has provisions, provided for in the state laws, for the transfer of juvenile offenders to the adult courts for trial. The youth court has to follow the procedures, which are outlined in the statute, to include the minimum age of a juvenile, who is to be transferred to the adult courts, and the specific crimes for which such a transfer may take place. While I recognize, as the United States Supreme Court did in Roper v. Simmons, (2005), that children are immature, and easily led astray, there are times when the protection of the community mandates that certain juveniles be treated as adults. This should be done on a case by case basis, and only for the most heinous and violent crimes.

When looking at the harsh punishments given out at sentencing for juveniles that were convicted in Adult Court we see that the last one that was executed was Scott Allen Hain, in Oklahoma, on 04/03/2003 at the age

Thomas Graunger was the first juvenile known to be executed in America. He was found guilty after admitting to his crimes of buggary “with a mare, a cow, two goats, five sheep, two calves and a turkey” in 1642 in Plymouth Colony, MA (Bradford). Since then, at least 366 juveniles have been sentenced to death. Of these, 22 occurred between 1973-2005. The United States essentially remains the only country in the world to permit the juvenile death sentence. There are 14 states that permit

The State of Tennessee has seventy four inmates on death row. Since 1919 current inmates have the option of choosing the electric chair over lethal injection. The last person to be executed in Tennessee was Daryl Holton, a Gulf

The T.C.A. that governs juvenile convictions to be sentenced as an adult is T.C.A. 37-1-134, Transfer from Juvenile Court. For a child to be sentenced as an adult in Tennessee, he or she has to be “sixteen (16) years or more of age at the time of the alleged conduct, or the child was less than sixteen (16) years of age if such child was charged with the offense of first degree murder, second degree murder, rape, aggravated rape, rape of a child, aggravated rape of a child, aggravated robbery, especially aggravated robbery, kidnapping, aggravated kidnapping, especially aggravated kidnapping, commission of an act of terrorism, or an attempt to commit any such offenses” (Lexis Nexis, 2017). In the State of Tennessee, a child that meets these requirements to be tried as an adult cannot be sentenced to death if found guilty. In order for county to get approval to try the child as an adult, a hearing must be held and the court must have probable cause that the child committed the alleged act, the child is not mentally ill

One of the most controversial issues in the rights of juveniles today is addressed in the question, Should the death penalty be applied to juveniles? For nearly a century the juvenile courts have existed to shield the majority of juvenile offenders from the full weight of criminal law and to protect their entitled special rights and immunities. In the case of kent vs. United states in 1996, Justice Fortas stated some of these special rights which include; Protection from publicity, confinement only to twenty-one years of age, no confinement with adults, and protection against the consequences of adult conviction such as the loss of civil rights, the use of adjudication against him in subsequent proceedings and disqualification of public

According to the Death Penalty Information Center (2017), there has been 22 juvenile delinquents executed from 1985 to 2016. This number does not include the juveniles still on death row. In the year 2016, there were 20 people in general executed (CNN, 2017). The execution rate declined 39 percent from the year before and is the lowest execution rate in the United States since 1991. Currently, in 2017 the execution rate in the United States has been 23 people (Reuters, 2017). As of 2004, there were over 7,000 inmates in the Unites states under the age of eighteen in state prisons, serving a sentence (Fagan, 2005). Juvenile delinquents are being incarcerated and given the same punishment as adults are given, there are different factors to why

Since when was it okay to take someone’s life away as a punishment? To take someone’s life, future, everything away is not right, at all. The death penalty should be banned in the United States. 18 out of 50 states still allow the death penalty, and that number needs to go down to 0. To help stop innocent people from being executed, and drive society away from “an eye for an eye” phrase, stop the death penalty!

“Lets do it!” these were the famous last words of convicted murderer Gary Gilmore. It was the winter of 1976 and the whole country was abuzz about Gilmore. He had shot and killed two people in just a span of two days in Utah. Not only did the jury convict him of two counts of murder but they unanimously proposed the death penalty for Gilmore who was even requesting his own death. At the time the U.S has just reinstated the death penalty and Gilmore was to be the first executed after the law was reinstated. Gilmore had two options for his execution because Utah had the firing squad or hanging as the two ways of execution. Gilmore chose to be shot and once strapped to the chair behind the Utah prison he said those famous last words before being shot to death for his crimes. The famous last words were said to have been the influence on the Nike footwear tagline “Just do it” by the popular advertising executive Dan Wieden.

Bright, Stephen B.: "The death penalty as the answer to crime: costly, counterproductive and corrupting"; 35 Santa Clara Law Review 1211 (1995)