Juveniles
PRE-FURMAN:
159 EXECUTIONS, 90% 16-17 YO
(A FEW MUCH YOUNGER!!)
THREE KEY TIME PERIODS:
Juveniles
1. BEFORE CIVIL WAR
24 JUV EXECS IN 200+ YEARS!
(RARE - ABOUT 1 PER DECADE)
ALL OVER THE COUNTRY
ALMOST ALL MINORITY/IMMIGRANT
Juveniles
2.
CIVIL WAR
TO
WW2
MORE THAN 100 EXECS (>1 PER YEAR)
INCREASINGLY SOUTHERN
90% MINORITY
NOTE: EVERY JUV FEMALE EXECUTED
IN US HISTORY WAS MINORITY - THE
LAST JUV FEMALE EXEC WAS IN 1912
Juveniles
3.
AFTER WW2
15 EXECS, LAST ONE IN 1959
(ABOUT 1 PER YEAR)
ALL SOUTHERN (EXCEPT 1)
ALL BLACK
Juveniles
POST FURMAN:
22 EXECS
ALL IN SOUTH (EXC 1 IN MISSOURI)
55% MINORITY
Juveniles
2003 - 83 JUVS ON DEATH ROW
ALL MALE
ALMOST ALL IN THE SOUTH
(MOSTLY TEXAS)
MOSTLY FELONY + MURDER
80% 17
20% 16 (AT TIME OF OFFENSE)
Juveniles
2/3 MINORITY
VICTIMS 3/4 WHITE, ADULT, MALE/FEMALE
DISCRIM PATTERN SAME AS FOR ADULTS –
MIN ACCUSED OF CRIME AGAINST WHITE
(RESEARCH BY ONE OF MY STUDENTS)
Juveniles
TEXAS JUV EXECUTIONS
1985-1992
3W
TEXAS JUV EXECUTIONS
1993-2003
1W 1H 8B
Juveniles
CONCLUSION:
JUV DP SIMILAR TO ADULT -SLIGHTLY MORE RACIST
MAJOR INTERNATIONAL ISSUE BY 2000, US ALMOST ONLY COUNTRY LEFT
EXECUTING CHILDREN!!!
Juveniles
COURT CASES:
None before 1988!
Thompson v. Oklahoma 1988 -banned exec of 15 YO
Stanford v. Kentucky 1989
OK to exec 16 & 17 YO
--
Juveniles
In Re Stanford 2002 -change Stanford ruling
Court voted 5-4 not to
(This issue came up because the Court did reverse an
earlier ruling and banned exec of mentally retarded
defendants - same five justices hinted almost ready
to ban juv exec.)
Juveniles
Simmons v. Roper 2003 -Missouri Supreme Court ruled that exec of juvs
unconsti under US Consti based on “evolving
standards of decency.”
Missouri prosecutors appealed to the US Supreme
Court referring to In Re Stanford
Juveniles
Roper v. Simmons 2005 -US Supreme Court banned exec of juvs -under 18 (at time of crime) by 5-4 vote.
Very unlikely to be reversed.
Roper v. Simmons probably ended this issue
permanently.
Juveniles
More on
Roper v. Simmons (2005)
Announced March 1, 2005
Banned exec of juvs (under 18)
(commuted about 70 sentences almost all in
southern states)
Juveniles
Missouri case -- Christopher Simmons
No question of guilt - but a sham trial and a childhood
history of vicious abuse.
2003 - Missouri Supreme Court ruled juvenile DP
unconstitutional under US Constitution
“Cruel and unusual” (8th Amendment)
Juveniles
At the time, the US was the only remaining country
in the world to officially allow juvenile executions,
and execution of juveniles was banned by virtually
every international protocol on the rights of children
Juveniles
Majority - Kennedy, Stevens, Souter, Ginsberg,
Breyer
Sotomayor and Kagan?
Dissenters - Rehnquist, Scalia, Thomas, O’Connor
Alito and Roberts??