Death Penalty for Juvenile Offenders

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Article 37a: No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below 18 years of age;

The United States is literally the only country in the world that has not yet ratified this international agreement, and 24 American states are members of the exclusive club consisting of nations like Iran, Iraq, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia. The 24 states are: Minimum Death Penalty Age Sixteen: Alabama Arizona Arkansas Delaware Florida Idaho Indiana Kentucky Louisiana Mississippi Missouri Montana Nevada Oklahoma Pennsylvania South Carolina South Dakota Utah Virginia Wyoming Minimum Death Penalty Age Seventeen: Georgia New Hampshire North Carolina Texas Since 1976, 11 men have been executed in USA for crimes committed as juveniles, two of them this year, both in Texas: Joseph John Cannon (white) on April 22, and Robert A. Carter (black) on May 18. As of July 1, 1998, 70 persons were on American death rows under death sentences received for juvenile crimes in these 24 states, 26 of them in Texas. 16 of them were 16 years old at the time of the crime, 54 of them were 17. 34% (24) of them are white - 66% (46) are non-white. 65% of their victims were white - 35% non-white. Juvenile death sentences since 1992 Year 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 Total 6 8 15 9 10 5 4 Age at crime: 16 1 1 4 1 4 3 1 Age at crime: 17 5 7 11 8 6 2 3 Articles about death sentence for juveniles For a complete list of current juvenile offenders on death row click here