Essay on No Death Penalty for Juveniles

skills to the death penalty if they cannot fully comprehend the consequences of their actions? If adolescents are being considered to have diminished reasoning and thinking skills, how then do they compare the mentally ill? Do the same standards apply? If so, then the case of Atkins v. Virginia, in which it was declared by the U.S. Supreme Court that the mentally handicapped would not be sentenced to the death penalty, would be essential to the cause opposing juvenile death penalty. It is not denied…

Kent held that juveniles were entitled to a hearing, representation by counsel, access to information upon which the waiver decision was based, and a statement of reasons justifying the waiver decision. It included the sophistication and maturity of the juvenile as determined by consideration of his or her home life, environmental situation, emotional attitude, and pattern of living. These rights we made so that the justice courts can provide guidance and rehabilitation for the juvenile also with protection…

The constitutionality of the juvenile death penalty reached a settlement in 1988 in the case of Thompson v. Oklahoma when four Supreme Court Justices reached the conclusion that: persons under sixteen years of age cannot be sentenced to death (Thompson v. Oklahoma, 1988). Justice Stevens, Brennan, Marshall, and Blackmun considered these important issues as they were deliberating on the case: (1) Does a national consensus forbidding executions of juveniles exist?; (2) the extent to which the laws…

guidelines. Now, when a juvenile is given a waiver it is only after careful review and investigation of the evidence. Juveniles who are tried in adult criminal courts are found to be truly deserving of the same punishments handed down to adult offenders, including capital punishment. All people should be treated equally is a common argument found in today's society. However, very seldom are all people treated equally in any situation, the receiving of the death penalty not being an acceptation…

means of deterring crime while in some cases actually acting as an incentive for crime. The first reason the death penalty is an ineffective tool for law enforcement has to do with the hypocrisy surrounding the policy. Because the state is actively taking part in killing, the death penalty is seen as hypocritical by juveniles. It is of course, hard to believe that juveniles not murder when they regularly see it being done by the government with the apparent approval of society. This was…

The Death Penalty in Decline The United States adopted the capital punishment from England for more than three centuries ago. Not only had the punishment been adopted but also the methods of execution. Throughout centuries, the people of the United States became more aware of how the criminal justice system functions and varies from one state to another. Some states used to execute people who commit minor offenses, such as stealing fruits. Maybe people would disagree with me, but I believe that…

People opposed to the death penalty also point to the fact that over half of the countries in the world have abolished the death penalty, including all other major industrialized, democratic nations. In the five countries with the highest homicide rates that do not impose the death penalty, the murder rate is 21.6 murders per 100,000 people. In the five countries with the highest homicide rates that do impose the death penalty, the murder rate is 41.6 murders per 100,000 people ("Deterrence"). Furthermore…

Against the Death Penalty “Murder is wrong” (“Capital Punishment”). We’ve been taught this indisputable truth since childhood. The death penalty is defined as one human taking the life of another. Coincidentally, that is a classification of murder. There are as many as thirty-six states with the death penalty, and it’s essential that they change it. The United States needs the death penalty abolished because it is filled with flaws, cruel and immoral, and is an ineffective means of deterrent…

Additionally, because the death penalty is such an ultimate decision, the number of court trials required to follow through with the sentence builds up significant costs as well. From a purely pragmatic standpoint, the elimination of the death penalty would be beneficial due to the economic ease it would bring. The death penalty is inefficient means of punishment in both process and methodology. Due process by which criminals are tried is a lengthy and elaborate process. Convicts can make repeated…

shows that murder rates were actually higher in states with the death penalty than in states that did not have the death penalty (Death Penalty Information Center, 2010). If the death penalty is a deterrent, wouldn’t these rates be reversed? In an article published in the New York Times entitled ABSENCE OF EXECUTIONS: A special report.; States With No Death Penalty Share Lower Homicide Rates, states that states who do have the death penalty actually have higher murder rates than the national average…