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Death Penalty and People with Mental Illness |
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Talking Points on the Death Penalty and Juveniles§ In the last decade, the United States has executed more juvenile offenders than all the world's nations combined. Since 1973, 17 juvenile offenders have been executed.[i] Twenty-five percent of these executions took place in 2000. § In continuing to execute juvenile offenders, the United States acts in defiance of international law. Execution for an individual who is under 18 years of age at the time of his / her crime would be contrary to American standards of justice, fairness, and decency as well as international law. The death penalty for juvenile offenders is expressly prohibited by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the American Convention on Human Rights and the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). § The juvenile justice system is moving further from the reason it was created in the first place. Children are not just “little adults”, they need to be treated differently than adults, in a separate system of correction, with an emphasis on rehabilitation. § Young people cannot be held to the same standard of culpability and accountability for their actions as adults. Impulsiveness, poor judgment, and a lack of self-control are frequently characteristics of childhood and are the reasons we limit many of the rights of minors. The age, maturity, mental status, and any childhood history of abuse / trauma of a youthful offender should always be considered mitigating factors in deciding an individual’s punishment. § Policy makers are abandoning notions of rehabilitation for juveniles and pushing for harsher punishments and more automatic transfers of youth to the adult system. Since 1992, almost every state has made it easier to try juveniles as adults.[ii] Many youth are being waived into adult court, are serving long-term sentences in adult facilities, or are being sentenced to death. Among the general population of youth, mental health problems affect one in every five children at any given time; two-thirds of youth are not receiving care for these problems.[iii] Between 50-75 percent of youth in the juvenile justice system have a diagnosable mental health disorder; one of five has a serious emotional disturbance. § Despite statistics that point to a reduction of juvenile crime, misconceptions about the rate of violent juvenile crime persist and are driving the development of more punitive responses to youth behaviors. Between 1994 and 1999, the juvenile arrest rate dropped 36 percent for violent crimes.[iv] [i] Streib, V. (June 2000). The Juvenile Death Penalty Today: Death Sentences and Executions for Juvenile Crimes. Ohio Northern University. [ii] The Sentencing Project. Briefing / Fact Sheets: Prosecuting Juveniles in Adult Court – An Assessment of Trends and Consequences. Available: http://www.sentencingproject.org [iii] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. [iv] U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
For more information on how to use the resources provided, contact: National Mental Health Association In providing these materials we are enabling our affiliates
to respond in a timely way to death row cases through letter-writing
campaigns and media outreach. By providing this Justice for Death
Row Inmates Resource Kit, NMHA seeks to offer its affiliates and
other advocates with important tools to empower and inform their advocacy
efforts specific to death penalty cases.
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Resources Juveniles Adults with Mental Illness |
