Juvenile Death Penalty in Iran

• In Event: Variation in Capital Case Outcomes

Abstract

The aim of this study is to provide a background of the evolution of juvenile death penalty policy in Iran, an empirical profile of executing children in the political and Islamic criminal justice system of Iran. It develops an analysis of the factors that may influence the future of capital punishment as a criminal sanction for children in Islamic nations.
Eighteen years is the internationally accepted minimum age for the imposition of capital punishment. According to Amnesty International, since 1990, only nine countries in the world are known to have executed juvenile offenders: China, Congo, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Sudan and the United States. From those nine countries five are Muslim. Almost all nations, even those with a death penalty believe it is inherently cruel, and they have agreed to put aside the death penalty for juvenile offenders. The execution of juvenile offenders continues in Iran.

Authors

• Sanaz Alasti, Lamar University

• Eric Bronson, Lamar University

• Amir Fakhravar, Lamar University