See The Washington Post , Teenager's Trial as Adult Puts Focus on Trend, November 5, 1999. The Court found that the decision to prosecute minors as adults is essentially a sentencing decision over which only the judicial branch has power. ACLU News and San Francisco Chronicle , February 8, 2001. The United States has executed nine juvenile offenders in this decade, more than the reported total for any other nation in the world. In a previous decision, the Court ruled that executing young people under age 16 was cruel and unusual punishment.
Federal law prohibits the execution of juvenile offenders charged with federal crimes.
ACLU Newswire, August 22, 2000. The other is Somalia. Nearly 40 percent of juveniles tried as adults were charged with nonviolent offenses such as burglary, car theft and drug possession. According to Amnesty USA , after Florida enacted mandatory adult sentencing for juveniles in 1981, children prosecuted as adults were more likely to commit another crime and black children were 2.3 times more likely than whites to be referred to adult court. Top of Page Links ACLU News - Prop 21 overturned by California Court of Appeal in San Diego.