Killing kids: The juvenile death penalty and community sentiment

In the Supreme Court's Eighth Amendment jurisprudence, “community sentiment” plays a central if not dispositive role in determining if a punishment is disproportionate. To gauge sentiment on the death penalty for juveniles, two experiments with death‐qualified subjects were run, where age (a 15–25 age range) and case (heinousness) were varied in the first, and type of defendant (principal, accessory, or felony‐murder accessory) and an extended age range (13–25) varied in the second. Significant age effects occur in both experiments, with approximately 75% and 65% refusing to give the death penalty for the youngest (13–15) and next youngest (16–18) groups, whereas 60% give the death penalty for the 25‐year‐old. In their reasons for their decisions, the killing kid was judged less blameworthy and death‐worthy. Although politicians have called for “a man‐sized punishment for a man‐sized crime,” this community does not see that “man‐sized” punishment fitting the kid.