In the same month, Glen McGinnis, also a teenage offender, was executed in Texas, where 25 minors are currently on death row. More minors are being tried and executed as adults. Before last January, only 10 juvenile offenders had been executed since 1990. This trend is likely to continue, since 70 offenders are now on death row in the U.S. for crimes they committed as minors. This is in line with a 1988 Supreme Court ruling Thompson v. Oklahoma that executing children under 15 constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
Murder is a serious offense at any age.
Excusing an offender simply because he or she is under 18 sends a signal to other young offenders that they can commit serious crimes and get away with it. Minors who commit serious crimes because they do not recognize the value of life should be subject to the same punishment that adults are. Recent declines in homicide rates among minors indicate that the threat of execution makes potential offenders think twice. Those that are put to death serve to show others that our society will not defer to minors in capitol offenses. Young offenders often come from broken homes and turbulent childhoods.