Opinion ID: 2453032
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: International Covenant on Human and Civil Rights

Text: McFarland also raises the novel defense that the United States has signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which provides that the death penalty shall not be imposed on persons below age eighteen years. This argument is meritless. First, the treaty signed by the president provides that persons under age eighteen may be sentenced to death. But even more to the point, the issue is moot. McFarland did not receive the death penalty. An issue becomes moot if the judgment will have no practical effect on the litigant, and, therefore, the decision on the issue is advisory only. See Stilley v. McBride, 332 Ark. 306, 965 S.W.2d 125 (1998). Questions related to the imposition of the death penalty become moot when the death penalty is not imposed. See Ferrell v. State, 325 Ark. 455, 929 S.W.2d 697 (1996); Brewer v. State, 271 Ark. 254, 608 S.W.2d 363 (1980). Hence, we give this argument no credence.