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Background Information
March 1999
Juveniles, Capital Punishment, and Sentencing
The Council's practitioner members have identified the issue of
unduly severe sentences for juveniles (capital punishment or life
imprisonment without the possibility of parole) as a problem that
merits attention. In light of this concern, the practitioner members
have prepared a statement on severe sentences for presentation and
discussion.
History
Historians note that the first execution of a condemned American
juvenile took place in 1642. In the years from this date until January
1998, a total of 356 persons were executed for crimes committed as
juveniles, representing approximately 1.8 percent of all confirmed
American executions (Streib, 1998).
The current American death penalty era began in 1972, when the
Furman v. Georgia Supreme Court decision struck down all existing
death penalty statutes. Sentencing under post-Furman statutes began
in 1973, but the constitutionality of those laws was not determined
until Gregg v. Georgia (1976), when the Supreme Court reopened the
path for executions (Sickmund, 1997).
The special issue of juvenile death sentencing received little
attention from the Nation's highest Court until 1982, when the landmark
Eddings v. Oklahoma Supreme Court decision reversed the death sentence
of a 16- year-old tried as an adult in criminal court. The decision
did not, however, expressly prohibit imposition of the death sentence
for an offender because he was only 16-years-old at the time of the
offense. Age, the court ruled, should be a mitigating factor of great
weight when considering the death penalty, acknowledging that adolescents
are less mature, less self-disciplined, and less (criminally) responsible
than adults. Six years later, in Thompson v. Oklahoma (1988), the
Court concluded that the eighth amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting
cruel and unusual punishment, prohibited application of the death
penalty for persons age 15 or younger at the time of the crime. In
the following year, in Stanford v. Kentucky (1989), the Court determined
that the eighth amendment does not prohibit the death penalty for
crimes committed at age 16 or 17 (Sickmund, 1997; Streib, 1998).
Current Information
In 1998, 38 States and the Federal Government had statutes authorizing
the death penalty; 14 jurisdictions remained without the death penalty
(Streib, 1998). Of the 39 jurisdictions authorizing death sentences,
14 States and the Federal Government have set 18 as the minimum age
for execution. Four States have set age 17 as the minimum, and the
remaining 20 States have a minimum age of 16 either by statutory
expression or by default pursuant to the Thompson ruling (Snell,
1998; Streib, 1998).
Table 1
Minimum Death Penalty Ages by American Jurisdiction
Age 18
California*
Colorado*
Connecticut*
Illinois*
Kansas*
Maryland*
Nebraska*
New Jersey*
New Mexico*
New York*
Ohio*
Oregon*
Tennessee*
Washington*
Federal* |
Age 17
Georgia*
New Hampshire*
North Carolina*
Texas* |
Age 16
Alabama*
Arizona**
Arkansas**
Delaware**
Florida**
Idaho**
Indiana*
Kentucky*
Louisiana*
Mississippi**
Missouri*
Montana**
Nevada*
Oklahoma*
Pennsylvania**
South Carolina**
South Dakota**
Utah**
Virginia**
Wyoming* |
*Express minimum age in statute
**Minimum age required by U.S. Constitution per U.S. Supreme Court in Thompson
v. Oklahoma, 487 U.S. 815 (1988).
Source: Streib, 1998
Between January 1, 1973, and October 1, 1998, 177 juvenile death
penalties were imposed on 164 persons, some of whom had their sentences
reversed and then reinstated. More than two-thirds of the death sentences
were imposed on 17-year-old offenders; the remainder were imposed
upon individuals age 15 or 16 at the time of the crime. Of these
177 sentences, 74 (42 percent) remain in force, 12 (7 percent) have
resulted in executions, and 91 (51percent) have been reversed. Three
juvenile executions took place in 1998, two in Texas and one in Virginia
(Streib, 1998).
As noted by Victor Streib (1998), the number of persons sentenced
to death who were 17 or younger at the time of arrest increased by
124 percent between 1983 and 1998. Texas and Florida each impose
approximately twice as many juvenile death sentences as any of the
other jurisdictions. Texas is responsible for more than half (7 of
12) of all juvenile executions since the 1980's.
The next most severe sentence for juveniles is a life sentence
without the possibility of parole. Unfortunately, no statistical
system exists to reliably count all such sentences, although there
are two statistical systems that can provide estimates based upon
samples of convicted felons and admissions to State prisons. According
to the National Judicial Reporting Program, a statistical series
that studies felony convictions in State courts, two juvenile offenders
from a large sample were sentenced to life without parole in 1996.
Five were sentenced to life plus additional years.
Yet many States do not distinguish in their reporting between life
sentences that are imposed with the possibility of parole and those
that are imposed without that possibility. In the same sample from
the National Judicial Reporting Program, 68 juvenile offenders from
these States were sentenced to life imprisonment. Unfortunately,
we have no additional information on the parole eligibility of such
individuals (personal communication with Patrick Langan, Bureau of
Justice Statistics, March 1999).
According to the National Corrections Reporting Program, which
captures admissions to State prisons in 38 States, an estimated 16
juvenile offenders were admitted to prison under a sentence of life
without parole in 1996. In the same year, an estimated 204 juvenile
offenders began serving life sentences (personal communication with
Alan Beck, Bureau of Justice Statistics, March 1999).
It is estimated that on any given day, 100-150 U.S. prisoners are
serving the sentence of life without parole for a crime committed
when they were under the age of 18 (personal communication with Alan
Beck, Bureau of Justice Statistics, March 1999).
To Be Discussed at the Meeting
Participants will discuss these issues in the context of a policy
statement put forth by practitioner members.
References
Melissa Sickmund, Howard N. Snyder, and Eileen Poe-Yamagata. (1997) Juvenile
Offenders and Victims: 1997 Update on Violence. Office
of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Department of
Justice. August 1997. NCJ 165703.
Tracy L. Snell. (1998) Capital
Punishment 1997. Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin.
Bureau of Justice Statistics, Department of Justice. December
1998, NCJ 172881.
Victor L. Streib. (1998) The
Juvenile Death Penalty Today: Death Sentences and Executions
for Juvenile Crimes, January 1973 - October 1998. http://www.law.onu.edu/faculty/streib/juvdeath.pdf.
Contact Information
Allen J. Beck
Chief, Corrections Statistics
Bureau of Justice Statistics
810 7th St. NW.
Washington, DC 20531
202-616-3277 - phone
202-307-5846 - fax
becka@ojp.usdoj.gov - e-mail
Patrick A. Langan
Senior Statistician, Research and Public Policy Issues
Bureau of Justice Statistics
810 7th St. NW.
Washington, DC 20531
202-616-3490 - phone
202-307-5846 - fax
langana@ojp.usdoj.gov - e-mail
Victor L. Streib
Dean and Professor of Law
Claude W. Pettit College of Law
Ohio Northern University
Ada, OH 45810-1599
419-772-2205 - phone
419-772-2318 - fax
v-streib@onu.edu - e-mail
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