Kentucky Governor Paul Patton said that he will com­mute the death sen­tence of Kevin Stanford, a juve­nile offend­er whose 1989 case before the U.S. Supreme Court result­ed in a rul­ing allow­ing the exe­cu­tion of those who were 16 or 17-years-old at the time of their crime. This will be the first time Patton has com­mut­ed a death sen­tence since he took office, and he not­ed in his announce­ment that the jus­tice sys­tem ​“per­pet­u­at­ed an injus­tice” in Stanford’s case. Stanford has been on Kentucky’s death row for two decades for a mur­der he com­mit­ted when he was 17. During that time, his case has served as a cor­ner­stone in the nation­al debate about the exe­cu­tion of juve­nile offend­ers. Patton is still con­sid­er­ing whether he will com­mute the sen­tence to life in prison with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole or to a lesser sentence. 

(Herald-Leader, June 19, 2003) Juvenile Death Penalty.

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