Topic: Whether or not juveniles should receive the death penalty. There are currently eighty death row inmates who are seventeen and younger. In the U.S., twenty-one men have been executed for crimes committed as juveniles since 1976. Sixteen states, the federal government and the military have a minimum age for being put to death is eighteen. They are: CA, CO, CT, IL, IN, KS, MD, MT, NE, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OR, TN, WA, plus the federal statutes. I am studying juveniles and capital punishment in my participation in government class. I think that we should lay down some ground rules for a minor and the death penalty. Set a minimum age. Fourteen, I think, is an appropriate age. A person should know right from wrong by the age of five. So a fourteen-year-old must know. If a criminal was able to commit the crime, he should be able to handle a suitable punishment. A jury must analyze each carefully to make sure what they are doing is suitable. As the number on death row increases, more of a problem will rise in the future. Some inmates younger than seventeen are: Aaron Lamb, Jay Kelly Pinkerton, Tim Davis, Sean Sellers, and many more. Aaron Lamb smashed the skull of a sixty-seven-year-old male seven times. Talk about brutal. Pinkerton, two charges of first degree murder. He raped and stabbed his victims thirty to forty times. Davis, he robbed, sodomized and murdered an elderly woman. Sellers, three counts of first degree murder, two of which were his parents. The Motivation: I chose this topic because I am interested in learning what the state's view on the matter. We should be concerned about our youth convicts. Do they have the right to be reformed? The outcome will help people understand what happens to juvenile murders. If people understand the situation, and know that the issue exists, some people will come up a say their opinion. I learned a lot about this topic in my participation in government class. The names mentioned above murdered a human being. People say, “What right does the state have to take a life?” I’m saying, look at what these convicts did, they took the life of a person, what right do they have? Why should we (the citizens of the US) spend our tax dollars to shelter, feed, give medical care and make sure they are healthy. Thirty thousand dollars is spent per year, per inmate. Some of these people MURDERED someone. It’s not worth thirty grand a year to keep a scumbag murderer alive. I don’t want to spend hard earned money on some person who doesn’t care about anyone or anything. I think that’s cruel and unusual punishment. Taxpayers should not have to pay for certain murders. Questions I will address: 1) Who is the youngest person ever executed? How old was he at the time of the murder? 2) What rights does a juvenile who committed murders in the first degree have? 3) Who are some of these juveniles on death row? 4) Why is this person the way he is? 5) Have young females ever been put to death? 6) What do law enforcement officers think about minors being put to death? 7) Can a minor be reformed? And should he be given a chance to get out? 8) Can youths be rehabilitated? 9) What is the success of juvenile halls in the US? I think more people will push for juveniles to be put to death than getting life in prison. Most people favor the death penalty. Americans follow a code that is centuries old, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” (Hammurabi’s Code) Meaning, whatever you do to me, I can do to you. We don’t follow this code word for word, except when it comes to murder. When you add minors, it makes it more difficult to follow this code. I think that a lot of people will swing the opposite way, because of his age. Even so, I think more people will favor the death penalty given to minors. The Proposed Cause: I expect to accomplish to form an unbiased opinion on the issue. I plan to be able to see both sides of the argument. I believe, however, that certain juveniles should be put to death for their crimes. Some of these murders are so horrendous, they deserve to die. Who determines what is horrendous? I think the jury does. To help me understand how the jury decides, I will learn all I can of this topic. I will ask people what their opinion is on the issue. Why do they think this? People on death row under eighteen, who they are, what have they done and what they think should happen to them. Prisons, police officers, government officials, some of my teachers, my parents, my relatives, my friends, my fellow students and random people. I think I will send a report to The Schreiber Times and The Port News. If I can get some kind attention for this issue, the issue would become spread throughout the community and say what's on their mind.
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