The application of the death penalty within the constitutional framework of the United States has gone through a lot of changes over the course of history. Most recently, it was decided that the application of death penalty upon individuals under the age of 18 be abolished because of various reasons. This brief report will attempt to identify the main arguments behind the above mentioned ruling.
The application of the death penalty in regards to minor raises significant ethical as well as moral issues. In 2007, the Death Penalty Information Center issued a report titled as a crisis of confidence Americans doubts about the death penalty in which it was statistically stated that 60 percent of the American population was of the view that the death penalty does not actuality prove to be a restraint in regards to restricting murders. Continuing with this line of argument, we can clearly come to the conclusion that if more than half of the people in the US do not believe the value of the death penalty then surely it should not be applied upon minors. It is believed that the death penalty is an excessively cruel form of punishment in the sense that individuals under the age of 18 are primarily undergoing moral and ethical development. Such individuals can essentially be reformed in such a way so that they can function normally within society. Life imprisonment is one such way to make sure that every individual be given a chance to change.
The reasons behind a murder are extremely complex and one cannot really pinpoint the main causative factors. Hence, the decision to decide whether one person should live or die cannot be taken lightly. A governments decision to execute someone especially a minor is inherently flawed in the sense that it is a violation of human rights especially if the possibility exists that the person might be innocent. The basic argument that I want to make within this report is that minors still have a long way to go and life imprisonment or something short of that is more likely to work for them rather than for somebody aged 40 years old.
Studies by the death penalty information center have shown that most Americans believe that the death penalty does not restrict murders. Therefore, governments need to develop a system which essentially reforms convicts in such a way so that an example for society is set. Consequently, it is apparently a blatant violation of human rights to execute minors because if a 14 year old child commits murder then it would be considered excessively cruel to execute him or her based on the fact that there is a certain possibility of that child being innocent as well as the fact he or she, if subjected to the system of reform might eventually change. The juvenile criminal system of the US was established upon the primary aim that it would attempt to reform minors who had strayed from the path of normal societal behavior. Hence, the application of laws upon them that also apply to adult offenders seems overly excessive not to mention unfair.
In essence, the abolition of the death penalty in the case of juveniles is another step towards a progressive judicial system which promulgates justice in such a way so that each and every element of society is catered for in an appropriate manner. Executing juveniles is an extremely barbaric custom and it violates ethical, religious and moral laws that are common throughout the globe.
The application of the death penalty in regards to minor raises significant ethical as well as moral issues. In 2007, the Death Penalty Information Center issued a report titled as a crisis of confidence Americans doubts about the death penalty in which it was statistically stated that 60 percent of the American population was of the view that the death penalty does not actuality prove to be a restraint in regards to restricting murders. Continuing with this line of argument, we can clearly come to the conclusion that if more than half of the people in the US do not believe the value of the death penalty then surely it should not be applied upon minors. It is believed that the death penalty is an excessively cruel form of punishment in the sense that individuals under the age of 18 are primarily undergoing moral and ethical development. Such individuals can essentially be reformed in such a way so that they can function normally within society. Life imprisonment is one such way to make sure that every individual be given a chance to change.
The reasons behind a murder are extremely complex and one cannot really pinpoint the main causative factors. Hence, the decision to decide whether one person should live or die cannot be taken lightly. A governments decision to execute someone especially a minor is inherently flawed in the sense that it is a violation of human rights especially if the possibility exists that the person might be innocent. The basic argument that I want to make within this report is that minors still have a long way to go and life imprisonment or something short of that is more likely to work for them rather than for somebody aged 40 years old.
Studies by the death penalty information center have shown that most Americans believe that the death penalty does not restrict murders. Therefore, governments need to develop a system which essentially reforms convicts in such a way so that an example for society is set. Consequently, it is apparently a blatant violation of human rights to execute minors because if a 14 year old child commits murder then it would be considered excessively cruel to execute him or her based on the fact that there is a certain possibility of that child being innocent as well as the fact he or she, if subjected to the system of reform might eventually change. The juvenile criminal system of the US was established upon the primary aim that it would attempt to reform minors who had strayed from the path of normal societal behavior. Hence, the application of laws upon them that also apply to adult offenders seems overly excessive not to mention unfair.
In essence, the abolition of the death penalty in the case of juveniles is another step towards a progressive judicial system which promulgates justice in such a way so that each and every element of society is catered for in an appropriate manner. Executing juveniles is an extremely barbaric custom and it violates ethical, religious and moral laws that are common throughout the globe.
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