NEW VOICES: Nobel Laureates Oppose Death Penalty, Decry Execution of Juvenile Offenders

A gath­er­ing of Nobel Laureates in Rome con­clud­ed with a com­mon state­ment call­ing for abo­li­tion of the death penal­ty and specif­i­cal­ly decry­ing the death penal­ty for juve­nile offend­ers. The state­ment not­ed ​“the death penal­ty is a par­tic­u­lar­ly cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment that should be abol­ished. It is espe­cial­ly uncon­scionable when imposed on chil­dren.” Among those in atten­dance at the sum­mit were Mikhail Gorbachev, for­mer Israel Prime Minister Simon Peres, the Dalai Lama, Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Lech Walesa, Betty Williams, Jody Williams, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sanchez, and a num­ber of orga­ni­za­tions that par­tic­i­pat­ed in the sum­mit. (Fourth World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, November 30, 2003) Read more about the sum­mit. See Juvenile Death Penalty and International Death Penalty.