Contentious Background
History and extent The first recorded incident of a juvenile offender execution occurred in 1642, carried out by the Plymouth colony of Massachusetts. Since then, 361 individuals have been executed for crimes they committed as a juvenile. In the past 50 years, 226 juveniles were sentenced with the death penalty, though only 22 have actually had their sentences carried out. 86% of those remaining successfully had their sentences reduced. The 22 juvenile death penalty executions represented a mere 2% of all executions in the United States. This is in part because of the 19 states that allowed the sentence, only 12 were actively using it. Five of these states had a minimum age of 17, while the rest had a minimum …show more content…
In 1910, Weems v. United States allowed the Court to more loosely interpret the Eighth Amendment. The concurring emphasized that the interpretation of the Constitution, particularly the Cruel and Unusual Punishment clause, would change over time and that the Court would similarly have to adapt its views. 47 years later, the Court would formalize this idea in Trop v. Dulles. They asserted that the Eighth Amendment should be interpreted with society’s “evolving standards of decency”. The “evolving standards of decency” component of the Cruel and Unusual Punishment clause would later be cited in landmark juvenile death penalty …show more content…
Kentucky. It still prohibited the death penalty for juveniles under 16, but it state that the death penalty was legal for juveniles 16 or older. The Court looked only at the national consensus of the death penalty to assess society’s standard of decency; they were specifically looking to see if society believed that the death penalty was cruel and unusual punishment. As state statutes were split on the legality, the Court found that there was no one prominent view on the subject. They thus held that the death penalty did not constitute as cruel and unusual punishment for offenders 16 or older, following society’s standard of
History and extent The first recorded incident of a juvenile offender execution occurred in 1642, carried out by the Plymouth colony of Massachusetts. Since then, 361 individuals have been executed for crimes they committed as a juvenile. In the past 50 years, 226 juveniles were sentenced with the death penalty, though only 22 have actually had their sentences carried out. 86% of those remaining successfully had their sentences reduced. The 22 juvenile death penalty executions represented a mere 2% of all executions in the United States. This is in part because of the 19 states that allowed the sentence, only 12 were actively using it. Five of these states had a minimum age of 17, while the rest had a minimum …show more content…
In 1910, Weems v. United States allowed the Court to more loosely interpret the Eighth Amendment. The concurring emphasized that the interpretation of the Constitution, particularly the Cruel and Unusual Punishment clause, would change over time and that the Court would similarly have to adapt its views. 47 years later, the Court would formalize this idea in Trop v. Dulles. They asserted that the Eighth Amendment should be interpreted with society’s “evolving standards of decency”. The “evolving standards of decency” component of the Cruel and Unusual Punishment clause would later be cited in landmark juvenile death penalty …show more content…
Kentucky. It still prohibited the death penalty for juveniles under 16, but it state that the death penalty was legal for juveniles 16 or older. The Court looked only at the national consensus of the death penalty to assess society’s standard of decency; they were specifically looking to see if society believed that the death penalty was cruel and unusual punishment. As state statutes were split on the legality, the Court found that there was no one prominent view on the subject. They thus held that the death penalty did not constitute as cruel and unusual punishment for offenders 16 or older, following society’s standard of