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Juvenile offenders and the death penalty
Juvenile offenders and the death penalty
Juvenile offenders and the death penalty
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Day after day in this country there is a debate going
on about the death penalty and whether we as people have the
right to decide the fate of another persons life. When we
examine this issue we usually consider those we are arguing
about to be older men and women who are more than likely
hardened criminals with rap sheets longer than the height we
stand (Farley & Willwerth, 1998). They have made a career of
crime, committing it rather than studying it, and somewhere
along the line a jury of their peers decided enough was
enough. They were handed down the most severe and most
final punishment of them all, death. Behind all of the
controversy that this issue raises lies a different group of
people that are not so often brought into the lime light,
juveniles. This proposes a problem entangled with another;
if we do decide to carry out death sentences, what is the
minimum age limit? Can we electrocute, lethally inject, or
gas any one who commits a crime that is considered capital?
In this paper the issue of capital punishment for
juveniles will be discussed, basically laying out a
comprehensive look at the matter. First we will briefly
look at the history of both juvenile justice and the history
of the death penalty in regards to juveniles. Secondly we
will take a short look at the two major court cases that
dealt with this issue in the United States. Next this paper
will present the factual statistics of the death penalty for
juveniles and also take a look at our country's stance on
the issue in the international arena. We will then spend a
short time looking at some views on the juvenile death
penalty, reasons for the death penalty itself, and the
arguments for and against the death pe...
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Gonnerman, J. (2000, January 5). Kids on the row. The
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Promises broken: Children in conflict with the law. (1999,
December). Available: http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/crp/
promises/law.html
Ricotta, D. (1988). Eighth amendment-the death penalty for
juveniles: A state's right or a child's injustice. Journal
of Criminal Law & Criminology, 79, 921-951.
Streib, V. (2000, June). The death penalty today: Death
sentences and executions for juvenile crimes January 1,
1973-June 30, 2000. Available: http://www.law.onu.edu/
faculty/streib/juvdeath.htm
Whitman, L. (2000, June 20). Bush should halt Texas
execution: Human Rights Watch letter to the Texas board
of
pardons and paroles. Available: http://www.hrw.org/press/
2000/06/board-ltr.htm
Hale, Robert L. A Review of Juvenile Executions in America. Vol. 3. Wales: Edwin Mellen, 1997. Print.
If a family member was murdered, a family member was murdered, age should not dictate if the punishment for homicide will be more lenient or not. If anyone not just juveniles has the capabilities to take someone's life and does so knowing the repercussions, they should be convicted as an adult. In the case of Jennifer Bishop Jenkins who lost her sister, the husband and their unborn child, is a strong advocate of juveniles being sentenced to life without parole. In her article “Jennifer Bishop Jenkins On Punishment and Teen Killers” she shows the world the other side of the spectrum, how it is to be the victim of a juvenile in a changing society where people are fighting against life sentences for juveniles. As she states in the article “There are no words adequate to describe what this kind of traumatic loss does to a victims family. So few who work on the juvenile offender side can truly understand what the victims of their crimes sometimes go through. Some never
The sentencing of underage criminals has remained a logistical and moral issue in the world for a very long time. The issue is brought to our perspective in the documentary Making a Murderer and the audio podcast Serial. When trying to overcome this issue, we ask ourselves, “When should juveniles receive life sentences?” or “Should young inmates be housed with adults?” or “Was the Supreme Court right to make it illegal to sentence a minor to death?”. There are multiple answers to these questions, and it’s necessary to either take a moral or logical approach to the problem.
Heinous crimes are considered brutal and common among adults who commit these crimes, but among children with a young age, it is something that is now being counted for an adult trial and punishable with life sentencing. Although some people agree with this decision being made by judges, It is my foremost belief that juveniles don’t deserve to be given life sentencing without being given a chance at rehabilitation. If this goes on there’s no point in even having a juvenile system if children are not being rehabilitated and just being sent off to prison for the rest of their lives and having no chance getting an education or future. Gail Garinger’s article “ juveniles Don’t deserve Life sentence”, written March 14, 2012 and published by New york Times, mentions that “ Nationwide, 79 adolescents have been sentenced to die in prison-a sentence not imposed on children anywhere else in the world. These children were told that they could never change and that no one cared what became of them. They were denied access to education and rehabilitation programs and left without help or hope”. I myself know what it’s like to be in a situation like that, and i also know that people are capable of changing even children when they are young and still growing.
Supreme Court ruling Graham v. Florida (2010) banned the use of life without parole for juveniles who committed non-homicide crimes, and Roper v. Simmons (2005) abolished the use of the death penalty for juvenile offenders. They both argued that these sentences violated the 8th Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. While these landmark cases made great strides for the rights of minors passing through the criminal justice system, they are just the first steps in creating a juvenile justice system that takes into consideration the vast differences between adolescents and adults. Using sociological (Butler, 2010) and legal (Harvard Law Review, 2010) documents, this essay will explicate why the next such step to be taken is entirely eliminating the use of the life without parole sentence for juveniles, regardless of the nature of the crime being charged.
This paper will examine the pros and cons of the death penalty. Is it a deterrent or is that a myth. Does it give the family of the victim peace or does it cause them to suffer waiting for appeal after appeal. What are the forms of execution and any evidence of them being cruel and usual punishment. Is the death penalty fair if there are glaring, disparities in sentencing depending on geographic location and the color of the offender and victim’s skin?
...ed United States. U.S. Government Accounting Office. Capital Punishment. Washington: GPO, 1994 Cheatwood, Derral and Keith Harries. The Geography of Execution: The Capital Punishment Quagmire in America. Rowman, 1996 NAACP Legal Defense Fund . Death Row. New York: Hein, 1996 "Ex-Death Row Inmate Cleared of Charges." USA Today 11 Mar. 1999: 2A "Fatal Flaws: Innocence and the Death Penalty." Amnesty International. 10 Oct. 1999 23 Oct. 1999 Gest, Ted. "House Without a Blue Print." US News and World Report 8 Jul. 1996: 41 Stevens, Michelle. "Unfairness in Life and Death." Chicago Sun-Times 7 Feb. 1999: 23A American Bar Association. The Task Ahead: Reconciling Justice with Politics. 1997 United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Uniform Crime Report. Washington: GPO, 1994 Wickham, DeWayne. "Call for a Death Penalty Moratorium." USA Today 8 Feb. 1999: 17A ILKMURPHY
The book “No Matter How Loud I Shout” written by Edward Humes, looks at numerous major conflicts within the juvenile court system. There is a need for the juvenile system to rehabilitate the children away from their lives of crime, but it also needs to protect the public from the most violent and dangerous of its juveniles, causing one primary conflict. Further conflict arises with how the court is able to administer proper treatment or punishment and the rights of the child too due process. The final key issue is between those that call for a complete overhaul of the system, and the others who think it should just be taken apart. On both sides there is strong reasoning that supports each of their views, causing a lot of debate about the juvenile court system. Edward Humes follows the cases of seven teenagers in juvenile court, and those surrounding them.
Last year alone, over five hundred and fifty people were murdered in Canada. The criminals were sentenced to serve twenty-five years imprisoned for the life/lives that they thieved. Imagine, waking up to discover the dread of your loved one, dead. Imagine the blow to your stomach, the pain and agony, and the hollowness of your throat. Imagine discovering that the assassin that killed your loved one was only to serve twenty-five years for taking a life. Imagine knowing your tax money went to assist the criminal in jail, instead of helping towards the park your loved one used to adore. Imagine watching more criminals commit crimes because the punishment isn't very severe. Imagine protecting yourself from your community because of are potential attackers. Without the death penalty, you won’t have to imagine. These thoughts will eventually become a reality. I think that the death penalty is an effective and compelling manner to settle murder and homicide because it threatens criminals, it provides a safer environment for communities, and the death penalty saves a lot of money for the government.
Juveniles deserve to be tried the same as adults when they commit certain crimes. The justice systems of America are becoming completely unjust and easy to break through. Juvenile courts haven’t always been known to the everyday person.
"Don't do the crime, if you can't do the time." -- David Grusin and Morgan Ames
Should juveniles be sentenced to prison for life? Should juveniles be trialed as adults after committing a heinous crime and sentenced to life? As a teenager, this question is far too complicated to answer because I am a teenager yet in my opinion, I believe that the juvenile should not be sentenced to life. I believe that there is another way to punish them for their crimes. The last execution was in 2006 in California.
When someone is legally convicted of a capital crime, it is possible for their punishment to be execution. The Death Penalty has been a controversial topic for many years. Some believe the act of punishing a criminal by execution is completely inhumane, while others believe it is a necessary practice needed to keep our society safe. In this annotated bibliography, there are six articles that each argue on whether or not the death penalty should be illegalized. Some authors argue that the death penalty should be illegal because it does not act as a deterrent, and it negatively effects the victim’s families. Other scholar’s state that the death penalty should stay legalized because there is an overcrowding in prisons and it saves innocent’s lives. Whether or not the death penalty should be
Capital punishment has been a controversial topic in association to any person condemned to a serious committed crime. Capital punishment has been a historical punishment for any cruel crime. Issues associated to things such as the different methods used for execution in most states, waste of taxpayers’ money by performing execution, and how it does not serve as any form of justice have been a big argument that raise many eyebrows. Capital punishment is still an active form of deterrence in the United States. The history of the death penalty explains the different statistics about capital punishment and provides credible information as to why the form of punishment should be abolished by every state. It is believed
not? That is Something that society doesn't have a clear answer on. Most people in the world support the death