study wasconducted in 1988 of fourteen juvenile offenders. Conclusions showed that all the individuals had seriouspsychiatric problems, twelve had been abused as children,and only two of the young people had IQ’s above ninety(Farley & Willwerth, 1998). These similarities may help toexplain the reasons that some of the juveniles are awaitingdeath, however this paper does not explore that issue.The U.S. undoubtedly leads the world in juvenileexecutions. Ten out of the nineteen juveniles to beexecuted since 1990 have been in the U.S. (Gonnerman, 2000). We average about ten death sentences per year according toVictor Streib, the topics leading researcher (2000). Thereare forty jurisdictions in the U.S. that allow capitalpunishment at all; thirty-eight states, and the federalgovernment on the civilian and military side. Of theseforty jurisdictions nineteen allow the death penalty forthose sixteen and older (Promises, 1999), five for ageseventeen year and older, and the remaining sixteen statesonly allow execution for adults, those eighteen and older(Streib 2000). Even though these statistics seem to be somewhat spreadout among the states the truth is that the majority of thesentences are handed out by judges in three states; Texas,who has already been mentioned as the leader in the juvenileexecution topic, Florida, and Alabama (Streib, 2000). Andthe numbers will more than likely only rise. Between 1983and 1998 the death sentencing rate for juveniles went up124% (Beck, 1999) and with the surge of young violencecontinuing and legislatures “getting tuff” on juvenilecrime, that number will only rise. We want to move on nowand look closer at capital punishment itself and its effecton juveniles as a punishment or lack there of.In a letter to Mr. Gerald Garrett, chairman of theTexas board of pardons and paroles, Mr. Lois Whitman pleadedthat “...children and adolescents are different from adults. They lack an adult&#...
