Hunter 1

Juvenile Death Penalty

Juvenile Death Penalty: How Old is Old Enough? By: Castia Hunter 22 March 2013

Hunter 2 Introduction From the 1960s up until this present day there has been a very controversial topic that is sizzling on all Supreme Court justices, lawyers, and citizens lips. That topic concerns whether or not juveniles should be able to be sentenced the death penalty when a murder or heinous crime has been committed. The following annotations provide some insight on the different views that have arisen within the conversation. Although everyone has their own opinions, there are three main views that frequently keep reoccurring within these annotations. One side of the argument claims that juveniles are old enough to make informed decisions, so any crime that has been committed should be punishable by the full extent of the law. Another side claims that juveniles are still developing and they are immature so they can easily be influenced. Authors on this side of the argument believe that the juveniles can be taken and rehabilitated and corrected. The third view of this argument approaches the juvenile death penalty in a biological aspect by analyzing the brain and the sections that control development and decision making skills. These annotations come from academic articles, news reports, and scholarly journals. There are also online government files and direct quotes from citizens that will be analyzed.

What are the different views? There are a few different views that are presented when going through the annotated bibliography on the juvenile death penalty. The first view that was shown was that there needs to be more research conducted in order to make a proper judgment on whether or not the death sentence is just. (Steinberg, Cauffman, Woolard, Graham, and Banich, Benekos, Peter, and Alida Merlo) Authors who supported the more research angle felt like there needed to be more psychological tests run in order to see at what point is and adolescent considered to be mature and capable of making well thought out and informed decisions. The next group of authors from the annotated bibliography felt like the juvenile was clearly

Hunter 3 bad and it should be abolished nationwide, not just in particular states. (Baldwin, Rodger, Finkel, Norman, Kevin Hughes, Smith, Stephanie,and Mane Hurabiell ,Cothern, Lynn) Here there is no doubt that killing children is cruel and unusual punishment and it is wrong. It is stated that even though children may commit adult crimes they are not developed enough to recognize the severity of it. Options like counseling and life sentences are suggested instead to give children to recognize their wrong doings and to have time to reflect instead of just killing them. Many people are indifferent when it comes to the juvenile death penalty and they strictly look at it in a political view. By political view I mean that they look at the death penalty in terms of how it either benefits or hams our countrys reputation. There is not much emotion for the actual teens that are on trial, but for the appearance of the nation. (Lane , Charles, Curtis A. Bradley) Last but not least, there is the view that giving juveniles the death penalty is a good thing and it should be kept and enforced. (Nwazota, Kristina, Porter,Clarence) With this view authors believe that if a child can make an adult decision, they should be able to be punished to the full extent of the law like an adult would be punished. Whos involved in this conversation? According to the research I have done and the articles that I have selected, there are a few people involved in this conversation. There are psychologists who like to approach things from an internal way by analyzing brain patterns and other signs that usually correspond with maturity. Lawyers and judges in this conversation give a more political opinion by using the law and the particular wording of certain laws in order to interpret what should be done to adolescents. Past cases and rulings are very crucial when coming to a conclusion from this group. The last group of people involved in this conversation that I could see, are the citizens of the United States. The citizens give an interesting perspective on the death penalty because they are the mothers and fathers of the children who have been murdered or they are the parents of the child who is on death row getting ready to be executed. Their emotions and

Hunter 4 feelings are one of the realist representations of the peoples opinions. Although their raw emotions can interfere with making an informed, clear decision, the populations opinion matters a lot because the jury has to take what the population feels into consideration when making a judgement.