The following is from a 2004 letter by medical professionals to the countries that executed children about why children should be penalized different than adults:
“….The restriction on the application of adult penalties to juveniles is a widely accepted principle in law around the world. The reason for this was set out, for example, in an opinion of the US Supreme Court in the capital appeal case of Johnson v Texas in 1993, an appeal based, among other things, on the failure of a Texas court to adequately take into account Johnson’s age at the time of the crime.
The court observed that: “A lack of maturity and an underdeveloped sense of responsibility are found in youth more often than in adults and are more understandable among the young. These qualities often result in impetuous and ill considered actions and decisions.” (2)
Our work with adolescents makes clear to us that this period of life is marked by the kind of “underdeveloped sense of responsibility” cited by the US Supreme Court.
We would argue that although adolescents generally know the difference between right and wrong, they can suffer from diminished capacities to reason logically, to control their impulses, to think through the future consequences of their actions, and to resist the negative influences and persuasion of others. They should face punishment for criminal actions, but the sanctions which can be imposed on mentally competent adolescent offenders should not be the same as those faced by adults found guilty of the same offences.(3)
For these reasons, we believe that executing offenders aged less than 18 at the time of their offence is unacceptable.
As you no doubt know, evolving international standards prohibit the execution of child offenders. These standards include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the American Convention on Human Rights and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. We attach the text of the relevant provisions for your information. This prohibition is now so widely accepted as to constitute a principle of customary international law. The relevant standards are respected by the overwhelming majority of the 80 countries which still retain and use the death penalty.
We are aware that although almost all countries whose laws still provide for the death penalty have now established a minimum age of 18 in national law or have ratified international treaties binding them to respect the prohibition, some death sentences have still been imposed and some executions have been carried out.
We urge you to modify the current policy, practice or safeguards of your country so that no one who was under the age of 18 at the time of the crime for which they have been convicted is sentenced to death or executed… “
To view the signatures click here:
[List of signatories follows]
Signatories of open letter against executions of juvenile offenders(4)
Robert Wm. Blum MD MPH PhD
William H. Gates Sr. Professor and Chair
Department of Population and Family Health Sciences
Johns Hopkins University
Bloomberg School of Public Health
Baltimore, Maryland
United States of America
Dr Jens Buchhave [*]
Chairman of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Association in Denmark
Specialist in Child- and Adolescent Psychiatry
Chief Consultant at the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Hospital,
University Hospital of Aarhus
Aarhus
Denmark
Prof. Jørgen Cohn
Specialist in Paediatrics
Emeritus Professor at the Paediatric-Health and Human Rights Department,
University Hospital of Tromsø, Norway
Ærøskøbing
Denmark
Boel Andersson Gäre MD PhD [*]
Chairman of the Swedish Pediatric Society
Head, Child Public Health, Jönköping County
55185 Jönköping
Sweden
Dr Robert Hillard
Professor of Pediatrics, University of Toronto
Director of Education, Pediatric Medicine, Hospital for Sick Children
555 University Avenue
Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X8
Canada
Dr Arne Høst [*]
Chairman of the Danish Paediatric Society
Specialist in Paediatrics
Chief Consultant at the Paediatric Department H,
University Hospital of Odense
Odense
Denmark
Dr Patrice Huerre
Psychiatre Expert près la Cour d’Appel de Paris
Clinique Médico Universitaire Heuyer
6 rue du Conventionnel Chiappe
75013 Paris
France
Dr Jørgen Hurum [*]
Chairman of the Norwegian Paediatric Association
Specialist in Paediatrics
Consultant at the Hospital of Lillehammer
Lillehammer
Norway
Professeur Axel Kahn
Directeur de l’Institut Cochin
Directeur de l’IFR Alfred Jost
22 rue Méchain
75014 Paris
France
Dr Björn Lundin [*]
Chairman of the Swedish Society for Child- and Adolescent Psychiatry
Specialist in Child- and Adolescent Psychiatry
Consultant at the University Hospital in Linköping
Sweden
Dr Klaus Minde
Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, McGill University
Director Anxiety Clinic, Montreal Children’s Hospital
McGill University Health Centre
2300 Tupper Street
Montreal, Quebec H3H 1P3
Canada
Charles A. Nelson PhD
Distinguished McKnight University
Professor of Child Psychology, Neuroscience, and Pediatrics
Nancy M. and John E. Lindahl Professor for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, Institute of Child Development
University of Minnesota
51 East River Road
Minneapolis, MN 55455
United States of America
Julius B Richmond MD
Surgeon General of the United States of America, 1977-1981
John D. MacArthur Professor of Health Policy Emeritus, Department of
Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Recipient, C. Anderson Aldrich Award in Child Development, American Academy of Pediatrics
Cambridge, MA
United States of America
Allan Rosenfield MD
Dean, Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
722 West 168th Street, Suite 1408
New York, NY 10032
USA
Associate Professor Susan M Sawyer MBBS MD FRACP
Director, Centre for Adolescent Health
Royal Children’s Hospital
Parkville, Vic 3052
Australia
Dr Jan Skandsen [*]
Chairman of the Norwegian Association in Child- and Adolescent Psychiatry
Specialist in Child- and Adolescent Psychiatry
Consultant at the Psychiatry Clinic, Child – and adolescent psychiatry dep.
Stavanger
Norway
Laurence Steinberg PhD
Distinguished University Professor
Laura H. Carnell Professor of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Temple University
Philadelphia, PA 19122
United States of America
Dr Serge Tisseron
Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst
Professor, University Paris 7 Denis Diderot,
75251 Paris Cedex 05
France
Professor Eric Taylor FRCP FRCPsych FMedSci
Head of Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Institute of Psychiatry – Kings College London
De Crespigny Park
London SE5 8AF
United Kingdom
Professor William Yule
Professor of Applied Child Psychology
Institute of Psychiatry – King’s College London
De Crespigny Park,
London SE5 8AF
United Kingdom