Only 39 out of all 50 states in America authorize the death penalty and out of those 39, only 23 allow the execution of offenders under the age of 18. Offenders must be at least seventeen to be sentenced to death in Florida, Georgia, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Texas. In other states such as Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Utah, and Virginia the minimum age is sixteen. Juveniles should not be spared of the death penalty because they possess the mental capacity to commit crimes that adults also commit, and some crimes are so heinous that the one who committed it can simply not be rehabilitated. The age of the offender should not have any effect on their punishment, if a juvenile does the crime they have to do the time. The opposing side will argue that the frontal lobe, the part of the brain that is used for decision making, isn’t full developed until you are 25 so it would be inhumane to sentence a juvenile to death. Since the frontal lobe isn’t fully developed until we are well into our 20’s should we abolish the death penalty for anyone under the age of 30? The United States has executed 1264 people since 1976. (Rogers) Over a thousand people have already been executed in the United States, many of which were not 25, …show more content…
They believe that punishment should be lighter so that the juveniles can be educated in the consequences without ruining their lives. If we do not hold them accountable for their actions and instead we let them off free they will more than likely commit another crime because they know that they can get away with it. We cannot allow minors to use their age as a shield, so there should not be an age limit for capital punishment. These juveniles perform the same horrific acts as adult offenders and they need to be punished