As it launched a glob­al cam­paign to end the exe­cu­tion of juve­nile offend­ers, Amnesty International released a new report enti­tled ​“Stop Child Executions! Ending the death penal­ty for child offend­ers.” The report con­demns the exe­cu­tion of those who com­mit crimes before reach­ing the age of 18, a pun­ish­ment the orga­ni­za­tion calls a ​“heinous prac­tice due to a greater aware­ness that chil­dren con­sti­tute a ​‘pro­tect­ed’ class.” In the report, Amnesty notes that only eight coun­tries (the United States, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen) have exe­cut­ed juve­nile offend­ers since 1990. The U.S.‘s 19 exe­cu­tions of juve­nile offend­ers since 1990 account for more than half of the 34 juve­nile offend­er exe­cu­tions that have occurred through­out the world dur­ing that same time. 

In a relat­ed report, ​“Dead Wrong: The Case of Nanon Williams, Child Offender Facing Execution on Flawed Evidence,” Amnesty focus­es on the case of Nanon Williams, a juve­nile offend­er on death row in Texas. The report high­lights doubts about Williams’s guilt, not­ing that his case illus­trates many of the sys­temic prob­lems of cap­i­tal cas­es, such as inad­e­quate coun­sel and the state’s use of unre­li­able evi­dence. (Amnesty International, January 21, 2004) Read Amnesty International’s Press Release. Read Stop Child Executions! Ending the death penal­ty for child offend­ers. Read Dead Wrong: The Case of Nanon Williams, Child Offender Facing Execution on Flawed Evidence. See Juvenile Death Penalty.

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