Children's Express reporters Andrew Mullan and Orlaith Wood, 15 investigate the harsh reality of juvenile execution in the United States.
| If someone murders someone, you shouldn't murder them. It isn't correct, it isn't justice. |
In 2002, Texan teen Toronto Patterson was found guilty of killing his cousins and was executed by lethal injection. He was 17 years old when the crime was committed. Prior to his death, he said "I often try not to think about [the execution]. I know I'll be at peace, no more worries and everything. I'll be at peace. No worries. No fears!"
Since 1973 Texas has executed 13 juvenile offenders, the highest number in the world. Every other nation in the world prohibits the execution of juvenile offenders. Yet the United States stubbornly refuses to abandon its laws permitting the juvenile death penalty.
According to the US based Death Penalty Information Centre (DPIC), as of March 2004, 73 people on death row had committed their crimes as juveniles. Each of these convicts carried out their crimes aged 16-17 and are now between 20 and 42. Currently an average of 9 years awaits convicts from sentencing to execution.
Toronto was unable to able to pay for his own legal representation and he felt,
"It was inevitable that I was going to be found guilty. Until the right people get votes in the right places, we'll just have to accept what they dish out."
Toronto Patterson, Prisoner 999178.
Patrick Corrigan, a spokesperson for Amnesty International in Belfast, told us,
"Children are not as responsible for their actions as adults; any punishment should take that into account. We're opposed to the use of the death penalty, we believe that it's a breach of the most fundamental human right of all, the right to life, and so we're opposed to it for all ages under all circumstances, with no exceptions, and that obviously includes against children."
Patrick told us that the continued execution of juveniles in the USA is in direct contravention of Article 4 of the American Convention of Human Rights that prohibits the execution of juveniles.
He went on to say,
"It's not just in the American Convention, it's in other international charters, fundamentally in the United Nations Convention On the Rights of the Child, as well as the American Charter, so of course it's a contradiction. Every other country in the Americas and just about every other country in the world reject the use of the death penalty for children, most of them of course also reject it for any age group now."
We contacted the American Consulate in Belfast and requested an interview with the Consul. When after 6 weeks no date was forthcoming we pressed the Consulate for a statement. A US Government spokesperson told us that,
"In a democratic society the criminal justice system should reflect the will of the people."
The majority of opinion polls in the USA suggest only a quarter of adults oppose the death penalty.
In New York, we spoke to some young people who are members of a sister project, Children's Press Line Media, and asked for their opinions.
Anna, 10, is against the death penalty.
"Two wrongs don't make a right. If someone murders someone, you shouldn't murder them. It isn't correct, it isn't justice."
She continued:
"If Bush is re-elected the death sentence will stay but if John Kerry is elected it would stop, and that's what I want."
Laurence, 13, thinks that the fate of capital punishment for young people lies in the outcome of this year's Presidential election.
"Depending on who becomes president I could see the punishment getting [more widespread], because a lot of people are still doing some really bad crimes so they might increase capital punishment to scare people."
In the past year alone, 90 people were executed in the USA and at present there are over 3,500 people still on death row.
At 18, young people in the USA cannot vote, serve on juries, make medical decisions, or enter into contracts. This is because there is a belief that they will not fully appreciate the consequences of their actions. Yet individual states in the USA reserve the right to sentence teens to death as punishment for their crimes.
In November of this year the US Supreme Court will review the issue of juvenile executions. Until then, and when any decision is made to revoke the death penalty for juvenile offenders, young people will still be waiting on death row in the USA.
About the team
This story was produced by Andrew Mullan, 15 and Orlaith Wood, 15. It was published by Fortnight magazine.
