Essay on Juvenile and The Death Penalty

Submitted By Eden-Paul
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Pages: 3
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The question of whether juveniles should receive the death penalty is a controversial subject for many. There are so many variables to consider regarding this subject. I believe this subject is relevant because in recent news reports we are increasingly hearing about juveniles committing some violent and heinous crimes. We don't normally think of juveniles as rapist, robbers or murderers, but when these crimes are committed by juveniles should they receive the same punishment as an adult who committed the same crimes? Juveniles have been executed in the United States as far back as 1642. That first execution took place in Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts. There has been 361 people put to death for crimes committed when they were under the age of 18 in United States. There are other countries that execute juveniles, such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. Most countries do not believe in the practice of executing juveniles. The United States abolished the execution of juvenile offenders under the age of 18 in 2005. The case before the United States Supreme Court was Roper v. Simmons in 2005, wherein the Supreme Court ruled that "the execution of people who were under 18 at the time of their crimes violates the federal constitutional guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment." This was a turning point in our country, and there were plenty of debates from people that did not agree with the ruling, and others who felt the ruling was the absolute right thing to do. The United States is no longer sentencing juveniles to the death penalty, but some juveniles today have no respect for authority or themselves, no respect for human life and wreak havoc in our society. The taxpayers have to foot the bill for these adolescents to be housed in prisons for many years or sometimes for the rest of their lives, depending on the severity of the crimes they commit. There is no easy answer for this debate, and definitely not an
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