An op-ed appearing in the Arizona Republic and authored by Dr. Mark Wellek, past president of the American Society for Adolescent Psychiatry, and Carol Kamin, current president of the Arizona Chapter of the Children’s Action Alliance, echoed growing national concerns about the culpability of juvenile offenders who face capital charges despite scientific evidence that they may be less culpable than adult offenders. Wellek and Kamin noted:

“American society has many gray areas. Our many cultures, systems and ideologies overlap in small ways and larger ones. However, there is one area that is completely distinct, and that is the law as it applies to children.

“Laws prohibit those under 18 from serving in military combat and on juries, voting, entering into contracts, and buying alcohol or cigarettes, precisely because kids are different - they are physically, emotionally and mentally immature.

“Groundbreaking new science reveals specific evidence of how these differences determine adolescent behavior. Their development is delayed, their minds operate differently, their emotions are more volatile and their brains are anatomically immature.

“There is a confluence of evidence showing that the regions of the brain that adults use to control and influence behavior are still underdeveloped in adolescents.

“For example, the pre-frontal cortex, which is one of the last areas to develop and mature in adolescents, is involved in the control of aggression and other impulses, the process of planning for long-range goals, organization of sequential behavior, consideration of alternatives and consequences, the process of abstraction and mental flexibility, and aspects of memory including ‘working memory.’

“3 states, Texas, Virginia and Oklahoma, have executed the majority of juvenile offenders, which account for 80 % of all juvenile executions. In fact, Texas alone was responsible for 60 % of juvenile executions. Obviously, the juvenile death penalty is not widely practiced or even popular. Nationwide polls consistently show that 70 % of Americans are opposed to juvenile executions.

…

“In a criminal justice system dependent upon determinations of culpability, scientific findings suggesting juveniles as a class are indeed less culpable call for serious consideration. The U.S. Supreme Court recognized the consequence of adolescent development in its 1988 decision to prohibit capital punishment for minors under age 16.

“31 states, the federal government, the U.S. military and the District of Columbia prohibit the execution of juvenile offenders. Just this year South Dakota and Wyoming signed bills into law banning the practice, and similar legislation has passed in the New Hampshire Senate and House, and the Florida Senate.

“This month, we joined the nation’s leading American medical, religious and legal institutions, child- and victim-advocate groups and nearly 50 countries, along with prominent individuals including Nobel laureates and former U.S. diplomats, in submitting briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is scheduled to hear arguments this fall in the case to end the juvenile death penalty.

“The American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Society for Adolescent Psychiatry and several additional medical associations filed amicus curiae briefs in support of ending capital punishment for minors, and a cross section of more than 420 prominent pediatricians, child and adolescent psychiatrists and neurologists, including such notable physicians as former Surgeon Generals C. Everett Koop and Julius Richmond, and Doctors T. Berry Brazelton and Alvin Poussaint, along with nine physicians from Arizona, submitted the Health Professionals’ Call to Abolish the Juvenile Death Penalty to the Court.

“Many prominent child welfare groups, including the Children’s Defense Fund, Child Welfare League of America, Voices for America’s Children and the Children’s Action Alliance of Arizona, submitted a brief as well.

“In their briefs the groups say that the juvenile death penalty violates evolving standards of decency, that it serves no legitimate purpose and is excessive in light of emerging evidence showing the limited capabilities of juveniles, and that the practice is almost universally rejected by the international community.

“The rest of the world, along with most of the country, has recognized the senselessness of the juvenile death penalty. It is our hope that the rest of our country will join these voices.”
(Arizona Republic, August 1, 2004)

The U.S. Supreme Court will consider the constitutionality of the juvenile death penalty this fall when it hears arguments in the case of Roper v. Simmons. See DPIC’s Roper v. Simmons Web page. See also, Juvenile Death Penalty.