Juveniles and The Death Penalty

Norma Itzel Salas FSTY 1313-07 Dr. Beth Eackman 19 November 2015 Juveniles and The Death Penalty Juveniles below the age of eighteen in the United States are being sentenced to capital punishment. Although the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty can’t be used for children who are underage, some states still haven’t enforced the law. They set their own limits on the age they think is best for convictions. The current policy of capital punishment for juveniles in certain states is unjust because children who risk being sentenced to death row still lack cognitive maturity and shouldn’t be held accountable as adults for crimes they have committed under the age of eighteen.

Through the Supreme Court ruling (Roper v Simmons) on March 1, 2005, juveniles can no longer be sentenced to the death penalty under the age of eighteen because it is cruel and unusual punishment. The Supreme Court held that juveniles below the age of eighteen lack the mental maturity to be tried as adults, are impulsive, easily influenced, and are known to have reckless behaviors that can cause them to act out and commit a crime (“Death Penalty”).

According to research done by the Juvenile Justice Center, adolescents are still developing mentally up until the age of twenty-one or twenty-two which society considers to be the age of full mental maturity. During these years, teenagers are producing massive amounts of “gray matter” tissue (which is where the majority of

thought processing takes place). As the brain undergoes more development the “gray matter” starts disappearing which causes ​ myelination​ to start forming (white tissue).

The formation of the white matter works as insulation for the brain to help it process information quicker and be more effective. Scientists have also discovered that the frontal lobes, the largest part of the brain, of the adolescent changes the most during these years and is one of the last areas to develop. This causes adolescents to not be able to reason as well as adults because the frontal lobes correlate with cognitive functioning.

Adolescents also have high hormonal and emotional levels which make it hard to act reasonably with all the imbalances going on in their bodies. An example particularly in males, high levels of testosterone can cause outbursts and aggressive behavior to occur (Juvenile Justice Center). As Dr. Deborah Yurgelun-Todd said, “Just because they're physically mature, they may not appreciate the consequences or weigh information the same way as adults do. So, [although] somebody looks physically mature, their brain may in fact not be mature” (Juvenile Justice Center). These developmental processes are some of the main factors that strongly contributed to the reasons why The Supreme Court ruled the death penalty for juveniles as unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment.

Although Roper v Simmons has been implemented as a federal law, not all states have set the age of conviction to eighteen (USLegal). Some states have either completely abolished the death penalty or set very specific standards and regulations in order to sentence a juvenile. The lowest age for a juvenile to be sentenced to the death penalty in the United States is fifteen in the state of Arizona for first degree murder with mitigating

factors (USLegal). Many states have been very resistant in changing their law towards capital punishment for juveniles.

It might be believed that sentencing a child under the age of eighteen, who is seen as a threat to society, to capital punishment is the better option for a particular community in accordance to their values. Some might also believe that juveniles know exactly what they are doing when they are committing a crime, and therefore, should be punished as adults in the justice system, but a poll done in May 2002 by the ​ American Bar Association​ says quite the opposite. According to public opinion, 72% of Americans support the death penalty as a form of punishment, but 69% of the population is completely against it for juveniles and although there has been fluctuation in support for capital punishment within the past forty years, when it comes to juveniles the number has always remained very low.

Our law has consistently held that the death penalty should only be imposed on those who are most guilty, and that the “average murderer” is not deserving of this most extreme of punishments. It would seem evident that the immaturity of juvenile offenders places them in a category less culpable than mature adults and, therefore, not deserving of death (Ortiz).

Even with the information regarding the cognitive development of juveniles and the values we uphold as a society, juveniles are still at high risk for being sentenced to death row in the U.S because of the lack of reform by certain states to make the age of sentencing to capital punishment eighteen years of age (USLegal). Although there have been endless programs to try to help juveniles that are being tried and convicted as

adults, the fact of the matter is, with laws like these still in place around the country, juveniles that are convicted may never get the chance to turn their lives around.

Ncsl.org​ states that 66-78% of juveniles that have had violent criminal pasts tend to “grow out of it� and gain more self-control as they progress into adulthood. The need for a strong push from the federal government to make states evenly sentence across the nation is extremely necessary in order to provide justice for juveniles in the United States of America.

Works Cited Brown, Sarah Alice. "KIDS ARE NOT ADULTS." Editorial. ​ State Legislators Magazine Apr. 2013: ​ National Conference of State Legislatures​ . Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

Juvenile Justice Center. ​ Adolescence, Brain Development and Legal Culpability (2004): American Bar Association, Nov. 2004. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.

Legal Information Institute. "Death Penalty." LII / Legal Information Institute. Cornell University Law School, Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

Ortiz, Adam Caine. "Juvenile Death Penalty: Is It "cruel and Unusual" in Light of Contemporary Standards?" ​ Juvenile Death Penalty​ : American Bar Association Criminal Justice Magazine, 2003. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

USLegal. "Death Penalty for Minors." ​ Death Penalty Death Penalty for Minors Comments​ . USLEGAL, Web. 18 Nov. 2015.