Jan. 22, 2004 – In a recently published report, human rights group Amnesty International criticizes the United States for continuing to carry out child executions, which it calls "one of the most heinous manifestations of the death penalty."
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The document, entitled "Stop Child Execution! Ending the death penalty for child offenders," shows the US topping the list of countries that put offenders under the age of 18 to death, with 19 out of the total 34 such executions recorded between 1990 and 2003. Also included in this roster are China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
The human rights group asserted that whereas some of the listed countries revised their laws to demonstrate "their respect for the prohibition of the execution of child offenders," the US remains firm in its resolve that it has the right to impose the juvenile death penalty. According to the report, the US made this claim in 1992 despite ratifying the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a treaty stipulating, "Sentence of death shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons below eighteen years of age. . ."
Amnesty disclosed that nearly two-thirds of US states with the death penalty execute child offenders. Currently there are more than 70 child offenders on death row in the United States, according to an Amnesty press release. The group has called on the US Supreme Court to declare this "shameful practice" unconstitutional, in the same manner that it did for mentally retarded prisoners.
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Amnesty argued that the death penalty or execution is too severe a punishment for actions of a person under 18 because it "denies the possibility of rehabilitation and is contrary to contemporary standards of justice and humane treatment."
