5% in the last 10 years. Nancy Traver (1992, October 26) observes the dramatic “increase in savage, senseless murders, the kind that occur over a scuffle in a school playground, a pair of sneakers, a romance gone sour” (p. 51). Ewing (1990) notes, “While it is rarely imposed and even more rarely carried out, the death penalty remains a legal option for punishing juveniles who kill” (p. 155). Five justices of the Supreme Court ruled in 1988 that execution of an individual, who was under the age of 16 at the time of the commission of a crime, however violent, constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and is therefor limited by the Eighth Amendment. In a ruling the following year, however, the court let the death sentences of a 16 and 17 year-old stand. The following year, 17 year-old Dalton Prejean became the first juvenile to die in the electric chair after this ruling. Convicted for killing a state trooper, Prejean had murdered a taxi driver when he was just 14 and served little more than two years for his crime. California recently joined a number of other states in passing a law requiring juveniles charged with murder to be tried as adults if they are at least 14 years old. Conceived as a way of dealing with violence by young gang members, one of the first 14 year-olds to be considered as an adult is Danny Connolly, who had no previous record before he shot his mother after a family argument. The Orange County deputy district attorney who was pressing for adult consideration said, “Danny’s quiet past and comfortable upbringing should be no insulation against charges that have been used against street thugs. I feel very strongly about treating people the same” (Olivo A11). One of the more troubling issues surrounding juvenile justice is the disagreement on the youngest age at which a child can be held accountable, even to some degree. Ewing (1990) observes, “In most ...
