Juveniles And Capital Punishment Don’t Mix

7 Pages 1833 Words

The topic I chose is about juveniles who are being placed on death row. This is a serious issue in the United States and many people have plenty of different opinions on the matter. My personal opinion is that it should not be allowed. If the person who is being tried for the case is under 18 then I do not think that they should be allowed to be sentenced to death. There are many contradicting thoughts about this, but just from my standpoint; this is how I feel. Now, you could say if I were put in the situation where a juvenile murdered my child, I would probably think differently about not wanting that person sentenced to death. But for this sake, I am not thinking about that and am sticking with my thoughts that it shouldn’t be allowed. There have also been many cases where this has become a major issue. In some states, the eligibility for death row starts as early as sixteen years of age. That is in fact the majority of them. Most is eighteen but there are five states where the age is seventeen. This may be mind boggling to some people, especially me, that a judge could sit there in the courtroom and say to a sixteen-year-old child that they are sentenced to death. Others would say the crime committed was so severe that the sentencing is fair. Obviously, I would have my differences, but that is the reason for this paper. In all of the cases, where juveniles are placed on death row, the crime was committed under the age of eighteen but are now well into their twenties. It takes many years before the system goes through and a juvenile is even ready. But I can make my assumptions that if we gave juveniles the death penalty at the age of 17 there would be much controversy over that, with the family especially as well as the outraged public. Most juveniles that end up given the death penalty start out in the beginning of the chain getting to capital punishment.
In some cases the children start out after one offense ...