Life After Death: Sentencing Youth in the United States after Ending Capital Punishment for Persons Under Age 18

• In Event: EHC-WG Panel 6: Youth Justice in Historical Criminology

Abstract

In 1989, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) which prohibited the death penalty for crimes committed by people under 18 years of age. It also prohibited life imprisonment without the possibility of release (Juvenile Life Without Parole) for those under 18. The United States signed but did not ratify the CRC and was the only United Nations member to have not ratified the CRC. In 2005, 16 years later, the United States Supreme Court in Roper v. Simmons abolished the death penalty for youth 18 years and younger. This paper reviews the Court’s rationale for the decision, the consequences of the decision including life without parole for youth, and the outcomes on legislative policies for sentencing youth.

Authors

• Alida Merlo, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

• Peter J. Benekos, Mercyhurst University Professor Emeritus, USA