Supreme Court throws issue of juvenile execution to states

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November 2002

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Supreme Court decision throws issue of juvenile execution to states

An October 21 announcement that a divided U.S. Supreme Court will not act to halt the execution of juvenile offenders means opponents of such executions must refocus their efforts at the state legislative level, according to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court indicated that it will not hear the case of Kevin Stanford of Kentucky, who was 17 years old when he murdered a gas station attendant. Twenty-two states allow the execution of juvenile offenders, although just two states—Alabama and Texas—account for the majority of the approximately 80 juvenile offenders currently on death row. The past six juvenile offenders executed in the United States have been African American and all have been from Texas, including three executed this year, one executed in 2001, and two executed in 2000.

Steven W. Hawkins, NCADP executive director, noted that a recent Gallup poll showed 69 percent of Americans oppose the death penalty for juvenile offenders and that state legislators increasingly are debating bills to ban the practice. Earlier this year, for example, the state of Indiana enacted a ban on juvenile executions, and since 2001 bills raising the minimum age for execution to 18 have passed one legislative chamber in Florida, Kentucky, and Texas. Bills raising the age to 18 also have been introduced in an additional seven states—Arizona, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota.

"No civilized society executes juvenile offenders," Hawkins said. "Juveniles have lesser capacity for reflective judgment and impulse control than adult offenders. We once believed the human brain was fully developed by age 14. We now know that the brain is still developing beyond the age of 17. Unfortunately, our criminal justice system has not kept pace with recent discoveries in the area of the behavioral sciences."

Hawkins charged that the execution of juvenile offenders in the United States is largely based on race and geography. "Texas has accounted for 13 of the 21 juvenile offender executions in the United States during the past two decades," he said. "Nine of the thirteen juvenile offenders executed in Texas have been African American or Latino. The death penalty in the United States disproportionately affects people of color and this is even more true when it comes to juvenile offenders."

Hawkins said that when state legislators consider the issue of executing juvenile offenders in 2003 legislative sessions, they should remember the Supreme Court's recent decision to ban the execution of mentally retarded people. "The mind of a juvenile offender is by definition less developed than the mind of an adult," Hawkins said.

"Juvenile minds do not handle social pressure, instinctual urges and other stresses the way that adult minds do. Juvenile offenders therefore cannot be held to the same degree of culpability as adults, just as mentally retarded people cannot be held to the same degree of culpability. We now ban the execution of mentally retarded offenders. There can be little justification for applying a different standard when it comes to juveniles."

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