Texas has sched­uled the exe­cu­tion of four juve­nile offend­ers between March and June of 2004 despite the fact that the U. S. Supreme Court has agreed to review whether such exe­cu­tions are con­sti­tu­tion­al. Arguments in Roper v. Simmons, No. 03 – 633, a case from Missouri where the state Supreme Court ruled that the exe­cu­tion of those under the age 18 at the time of their crime would be cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment, are not expect­ed to take place until this com­ing fall, months after the sched­uled exe­cu­tions of Edward Capetillo, Anzel Jones, Efrain Perez, and Raul Villarreal. All of these defen­dants were 17 years old at the time of their crimes. Requests for stays of exe­cu­tion are being filed. Typically, cas­es in the same pos­ture as one before the Supreme Court are held up until the Court rules. There are 73 juve­nile offend­ers on death row in America. Only two juve­nile offend­ers received death sen­tences in 2003, the fewest in 15 years. See Juvenile Death Penalty and Supreme Court.
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