Table of Contents
As a society, we have a tendency to acknowledge that youngsters, those underneath eighteen years previous, can’t and don’t perform as adults. that’s why the law takes special steps to shield youngsters from the implications of their actions and sometimes seeks to ameliorate the hurt cause once youngsters build wrong decisions by giving them a second likelihood. The law prohibits folks underneath eighteen from balloting, serving within the military and on juries, however in some states, they’ll be dead for crimes they committed before they reach adulthood. The u. s. Supreme Court prohibits execution for crimes committed at the age of fifteen or younger. Nineteen states have laws allowing the execution of persons un agency committed crimes at sixteen or seventeen. Since 1973, 226 juvenile death sentences are obligatory.
The term juvenile justice usually refers to the term adjudication, reformation process after a juvenile has committed an act which is against the law. It also includes some preventive measures before the advent of delinquency.
Opinions vary depending on the state and political party, although the United States has come to various conclusions about how people will be punished for various crimes. More specifically, the death penalty of juveniles is very different, as it is now stated that no one under the age of 18 may be sentenced to death. This became a Supreme Court ruling after the Roper vs. Simmons case in which a 17-year-old was convicted of and sentenced to death for murdering a woman. Then, the government began to reconsider existing laws in order to develop various conclusions regarding children and teenagers. The following paper will examine the history of the death penalty, exactly what occurred during the case and why children are considered different under the eyes of the law. Then, this information can be used to conclude why the justice system is the way that it is today. The modern history of juveniles begins from the year 1850 when the first law was enacted with the children of age 15 years who committed these type of offences .
HISTORY OF DEATH PENALTY FOR JUVENILES OFFENDERS
The concept of history of juveniles began in the year 1642, Thomas granger a guy who was in a age group of about 16 years who was basically hanged up in Plymouth colony , for having sexual interaction with a mare, cow and some goats. Through this incident, the debut of the death of the juveniles took place. Since 1990, only 5 countries had executed juveniles – the United States, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. In 1966, the General Assembly of the United Nations agreed to a statement that the “sentence of death shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons below 18 years of age…” President Carter signed this covenant for the United States in 1978. In 14 states there exists a death penalty, 18 is the age of accountability. In 4 states, 17 years old are eligible but in 21 states, 16 years old are eligible foe death penalty. The modern era of the death penalty began in the year 1974, when teenagers once again arrived on the death penalty.
PROFILE OF THE YOUTH AFFECTED
Since the series of Supreme Court decisions upholding the use of the death penalty for juveniles, juvenile offenders had received the sentence of death fairly consistently, during the past 20 years. Since 1973, 196 juvenile death sentences have been imposed. This tells for less than 3 percent of the almost 6,900 total U.S. death sentences. Approximately two-thirds of these have been imposed on 17-year-olds and nearly one-third on 15- and 16-year-olds. The rate of juvenile death sentencing was initially somewhat erratic, fluctuating in the years following Furman v. Georgia (1972), but became more consistent in the mid1980’s. The rate was dropped somewhat in the late 1980’s, possibly because of cases pending before the Supreme Court.
CASES OF THE JUVENILES
- Atkins vs Virginia
- Ford vs Wainwright
- Panetti vs Quarterman
CONCLUSION
Juveniles crimes are grim reality, to stop them some act needs to be implemented, along with that awareness must be there. The thinking level of the system needs to be changed. There exists some factors which are responsible for juveniles delinquency, along with other factors like peer pressure, physical disability. A child is the only person who get to know about good or bad things, right and wrong things as well. This juveniles act must be tighten up the laws which includes some approaches in the laws which is said to be reformative.
Author: KRISH BHATIA,
CHANDIGARH UNIVERSITY 1 YEAR BALLB