An article by Farnaz Fassihi in the Wall Street Journal entitled "Debate over child executions roils Iran's presidential elections" has elicited some of the usual comments and posts especially on right-wing blogs about how bloodthirsty and barbaric those Iranians must be ... which is very ironic, because until 2005 the deplorable distinction of "leading the world in juvenile executions" was applicable to ... not China, not Iran, but the US.
The prohibition of execution of minors in the US is very recent and only came into force in 2005, in a narrowly decided Supreme Court decision (all the conservative justices voted in favor of the practice.)
Until then, 20 states in the US did allow the execution of minors and there had been 22 such executions, plus another 78 such people who were on death row when the practice was abolished in the US.
See http://www.abanet.org/crimjust/juvjus/dparticles/factsheetfactsfigures.pdf
[Having said that, two wrongs don't make a right either. I am very opposed to the death penalty, anywhere and for any reason. That's why I hesitate to post this because I don't want to seem to be in support of the death penalty, and certainly not in support of the death penalty for juvenile offenders.]
Comments