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Supreme Court to Review Juvenile Executions

HeadlineJan 27, 2004

The Supreme Court has agreed to review whether the Constitution prohibits the execution of juvenile offenders. According to the New York Times, the United States is the only country in the world where the execution of those under 18 is officially sanctioned. It is also the only country not to have signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits the practice. The last five executions of juvenile offenders in the world have all occurred in the United States, most recently in Oklahoma in April. There are currently 74 people on death row for crimes committed before the age of 18. Almost one third of them are in Texas. Meanwhile in Florida, 16-year-old Lionel Tate was released from prison four days shy of his 17th birthday. Tate had been sentenced to life in prison for killing a playmate when he was 12 years old. Last month an appeals court threw out his conviction for first-degree murder on grounds that his competency had been properly evaluated before he was tried.

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