Death in Prison Sentences for 13- and 14-Year-Olds
Dominic Culpepper has been sentenced to imprisonment until death in Florida for a crime committed at age 14.View Slideshow
In the United States, dozens of 13- and 14-year-old children have been sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole after being prosecuted as adults. While the United States Supreme Court recently declared that death by execution is unconstitutional for juveniles, young children continue to be sentenced to die in prison with very little scrutiny or review. EJI has documented 74 cases where children 14 years of age or younger have been condemned to death in prison. Almost all of these kids currently lack legal representation and in most of these cases the propriety and constitutionality of their extreme sentences has never been reviewed.
Most of the sentences imposed on these children were mandatory: the court could not give any consideration to the child’s age or life history. Some of the crimes charged against these children do not involve homicide or even injury. Many of these children were convicted for offenses where older teenagers or adults were involved and primarily responsible for the crime. Nearly two-thirds of these adolescents are children of color.
October 13, 2008Next week, EJI Director Bryan Stevenson will argue in the California Court of Appeal on behalf of Antonio Nunez, who was sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility for parole for his involvement at age fourteen in a kidnapping offense in which no one was injured.
October 1, 2008
EJI has released a short preview version of the upcoming film, Cruel and Unusual: Sentencing 13- and 14-Year-Old Children to Die in Prison.
September 10, 2008On Thursday, September 11, 2008, EJI Director Bryan Stevenson will testify before the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security during hearings on H.R. 4300, the Juvenile Justice Accountability and Improvement Act.
May 28, 2008On May 26, 2008, United Nations Special Rapporteur on racism Doudou Diene heard testimony from EJI Executive Director Bryan Stevenson as part of his field mission to examine racism in the United States. Mr. Stevenson detailed evidence of racial bias against African Americans, Latinos, and other racial minorities, from the administration of the death penalty to the treatment of children in the criminal justice system.
March 26, 2008On Monday, March 24, 2008, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri reversed the conviction and sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of parole imposed on Phillip Shaw for a crime that occurred when he was 14 years old.
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Challenging Death in Prison Sentences for Children
Fact sheet and news articles detailing the issue of sentencing adolescents to life imprisonment with
possibility of parole and EJI’s litigation campaign to end death-in-prison sentencing for young children.
Dominic Culpepper has been sentenced to imprisonment until death in Florida for a crime committed at age 14. View Slideshow