Every year in the United States, thousands and thousands of various crimes are committed. There is also a selection of different punishments a subject can suffer for their crimes. The decision ultimately rests with the justice system. Crimes can be punishable by fines, jail or prison time, community service, the list goes on. In the United States, one of the most severe and controversial forms of punishment is capital punishment. Sarat states that in the 20th century, more than 7,000 people were executed in the United States, while another 3,000 awaited execution on death row (2001). What becomes even more of a subjective topic only becomes more pronounced when we express the idea that minors should be part of this statistic. The course of human events and science has led to changes in laws and regulations. The first evidence of capital punishment dates back to Jamestown, Virginia, when the British carried out hangings and firing squads in the 1600s. Dwankowski states that it was not until the signing of the Declaration of independence that those involved such as Dr. Benjamin Rush (creator of the PA prison system), Benjamin Franklin and William Bradford believed that capital punishment was not applicable to all crimes (2017). In 1794, the state of Pennsylvania was the first to formulate degrees of murder. First-degree murder was, in turn, the only crime punishable by death. The 19th century saw many changes that one would not expect regarding the death penalty. The populations displayed an atmosphere in which they seemed to want to abolish the death penalty. The cruel and unusual punishments practiced by past generations were those of the Jacksonia era and required change (2017). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The use of the gallows was a memory at this point, and states that practiced capital punishment were studying more humane methods of execution. Soon after, the number of people on death row was reduced and, in turn, state penitentiaries were established. Between 1834 and 1888, numerous changes were passed across the United States in favor of capital punishment. Pennsylvania moved public executions to correctional facilities, Tennessee and Alabama abolished them completely, and Michigan abolished them completely except for the crime of treason (2017). As the United States progressed through the 20th century, the position on the death penalty fluctuated wildly before quickly beginning to stabilize. A historic decision was made in 1960 when the death penalty was found to be unconstitutional under the 8th Amendment (2017). From that point on, states that had not banned the death penalty saw cases before the Supreme Court in which variables such as jury discretion, other recommendations, and impartiality were all discussed. According to the FBI, in 2015 there were 15,696 murders, 90,185 rapes and 327,374 robberies (2016). The Department of Justice (DOJ) was able to provide a more accurate set of results. Of these heinous crimes committed, 790 of these murders and 18,500 of these thefts were committed by minors (2018). Of the murders and robberies committed in the United States during those years, 5% were committed by people under the age of 18. Unfortunately, statistics on rape crimes involving minors are not available after 2012. In fact, at the beginning of 2013, the FBI hadmodified the criteria and the specific definition of the term rape. The term “forced” was removed and statements regarding vaginal penetration with a foreign object or genitals were included (2016). Roper v. Simmons is a case that took place in 1993. At the time, a 17-year-old man named Christopher Simmons planned and committed a capital murder. Over the next ten years, the team had made numerous appeals at both the state and federal levels (Cornell, 2005). During the trial that followed, Simmons turned 18 and was sentenced to death. Based on a previous case discussed (Atkins v. Virginia), it was decided to re-examine the case. The case of Atkins v. Virginia mirrors that of the 8th and 14th Amendments regarding the execution of mentally retarded people. It was a violation because the Americans felt it was a violation and revisited the Simmons case (Cornell, 2005). After reflection on the Atkinson case of 1989, which resulted in aq 6 – 3 decision, it was held that the execution of a minor was unconstitutional and from that point on it would no longer be considered valid. In the case of Stanford v. Kentucky, a 17-year-old man was convicted by a jury of not only murder, but also sodomy, robbery and receiving stolen property. At the time, Stanford was sentenced to the death penalty under the stipulation that a juvenile was eligible for the death penalty if he committed a felony or capital offense. As in the other cases mentioned, Stanford also considered that the decision to put him to death constituted a violation of his human rights (Cornell, 1989). The Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that there are extenuating circumstances in most cases and that in this, a comparison of the details of the case with the changing norms and morality of society of today must be identified. In turn, Stanford was not only sentenced to 45 years in prison, but also received the death penalty for his actions (Cornell, 1989). Roper v. Simmons had ruled, based on the evaluation of the two cases, that special groups of offenders (in this case, children and mentally retarded people) had little or no intellectual disability compared to adults who committed the same crime. Long term result, 72 people sentenced to death were re-sentenced based on the 2005 Supreme Court decision. The main ethical issues and values ​​that come into play are of utmost importance. We live in the United States under the Constitution. Our constitution is the supreme law of our country. It is a set of rules and principles that not only do we live by, but many of us would die for. Among the supreme law, there are a variety of amendments that have been debated and argued over the years regarding their interpretation. Previously, the 8th and 14th Amendments were discussed in the context of capital punishment against the mentally defective and how the execution of a child was classified as cruel and unusual punishment. The ethical dilemma that arises is the violation of laws in the United States, both at the federal and state levels. This represents state laws and amendments. In the minds of some, they believe that everyone should be punished for their crimes against their fellow human beings. Depending on a given individual's crimes, they can be sentenced to various penalties ranging from jail time, community service, fines, and more. Depending on the circumstances of the crimes, the punishment may become more or less severe in the long term. 99% would agree on both sides of the argument that punishment is due for violating thecrimes, amendments and supreme law. At this point, values ​​have a say in the process. Values ​​are what we, as individuals, find important. They are closely related to morality and can be defined as what we consider to be of value, importance, something worthy, etc. The reasons people are sometimes opposed to capital punishment are because life without parole is an alternative (especially if there is a chance that the person behind bars is innocent), the cost of capital punishment, etc. . There are also aspects of suicide and capital punishment which are contrary to religions. Understanding the human brain and that of an adolescent or even younger is something that not only parents want to understand, but also law enforcement officials. At these young ages, good judgment is something that must be experienced over time. Like Rome, it cannot be built in a single day. No matter what a person's GPA, SAT score, or IQ, life choices and good/bad decisions are on a completely different spectrum. According to Rochester, the human brain doesn't really finish developing until around the age of 15 (2018). Research has actually proven this theory, stating that an adult's brain works very differently from that of a child or adolescent. For example, in the normal human brain, an adult will use their prefrontal cortex to make decisions. This is the rational part of the brain; it focuses on making decisions based on given factors such as the consequences of their actions, decisions based on judgment and those based on conscience (Rocheseter, 2018). On the other hand, a child/teenager will make decisions using their amygdala. This part of the brain is based on emotions (Rochester, 2018). Additionally, the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, and the rest of the brain continue to develop as they age. This unfortunately does not happen with every miner, as each is different and will continue to develop and grow at a different rate. This is one reason why children can sometimes be consumed by such emotion. They might actually feel much more than what their mind thinks at that moment. Society and public policies themselves have struggled to keep up with the constant changes in neuroscience and neuroimaging. Another issue that arises is the lack of evidence linking the neurodevelopmental process to actual adolescent behaviors (Johnson, 2009). This development shapes how the public creates policies such as the age at which a person can purchase alcohol, the age at which they can go to a film intended for an adult audience, as well as the penalties imposed for crimes that a minor can commit. There is only so much parents, role models and guardians can do in their children's lives. Most importantly, a child needs to know the difference between right and wrong. They need to be aware that acts such as lying, cheating and stealing from a young age are not acceptable. Brain development continues for almost a third of a person's life. According to Kalb, an average child can describe the difference between right and wrong between the ages of 7 and 15 (2000). A recent study tested this situation in court. Evans had to determine a child's competency to testify in court. He began by taking 154 different 5-year-olds who witnessed sexual abuse over a 35-year period. It turned out that the refusal of some children to testify was based on people such as the judge andlawyers (Evans, 2012). It turns out the problem was the way a question was asked or the way a certain question was asked of a child. For example, the diction used in the questions was sometimes too difficult and the hypothetical questions were also awkward. (Evans, 2018). Yes and no questions were expected to be statistically more accurate than question and answer situations based on a definition or story. (2012). The main question is: does the death penalty reduce crime? If so, would it be able to deter crimes against juveniles in the same way it potentially does against their adult counterparts? Can a child step back from a situation, reflect on their actions and judgment, and express the fact that by committing a crime they could lose their life? The first execution of a child took place in Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts in 1642 and since then approximately 365 juveniles (that we know of) have been executed for crimes (DPIC, 2018). Since 1608, this represents approximately 1.8% of the approximately 20,000 who have been put to death to date. 22 of these executions have occurred since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 and represent 2% of executions in America since 1976. Since 1990, only 11 countries have executed juveniles for crimes committed within their own country. countries: Iran, Yemen, Republic of Congo, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, Nigeria, China and United States. In the United States alone, only 16 states do not have the death penalty. Many of the listed countries have since banned and formulated laws prohibiting the execution of people under the age of 18 or people who were younger than 18 at the time they committed the crime. Studies reflect both sides of the spectrum, but capital punishment in the United States has been statistically proven to deter violent crimes such as murder. According to Muhlhausen, 67% of Americans are for the death penalty while only 28% are opposed to it. to this (2007). Although there are some constitutional stipulations on this subject, a majority is in favor of it. The challenge at this point is convincing officials at the local, state and federal levels. This idea is based on what is called deterrence theory. When an individual fears the idea of ​​being apprehended or punished, they are less likely to act to avoid the punishment inflicted on them. In this case, it is the death penalty. Studies have been conducted in recent years to better assess the link between capital punishment and reduced murder rates. All of this is based on theory which focuses on aspects of the theory that can range from net costs to various benefits (Muhlhausen (2007). Some of the first research on this topic was conducted by Isaac Ehlrich in the 1970s. Isaac has had the first The research known at the time perhaps explains why his work was controversial and questionable In turn, due to the lack of other supporting or degrading research, Ehlrich began by taking the statistics on the. capital punishment from the years 1933 to 1969. and mixed them with a variety of variables ranging from unemployment and per capita income to form a mathematical formula According to Lamperti, his work produced a negative coefficient for the execution variable. latent, it was determined that more executions would result in fewer homicidal executions throughout the community (2007). This was true; Over the years, more and more research on the same topic has been carried out. The majority of them are composed of panel data sets composed bypeople in the field such as Naci Mocan, Kaj Gittings and Paul Zimmerman. In another study, results come from Rubin and Shepherd when they took data from more than 3,000 U.S. counties between 1977 and 1996. They compared it to state-level panel data from the 1960s to 2000 (Lamperti, 2007). What made this research unique from other work done was that they were able to compare the data relationship between executions and murders that occurred before, during and after the Supreme Court moratorium. (Hachem, 2006). According to their results, they found that executions had a high negative relationship with murders and that Supreme Court moratoriums were responsible for the increase in murders (2007). Three important factors were discovered at the end of their research. The first was that on average, each execution represented a reduction of 3 in murder and crimes of passion. Then, each execution reduced the number of whites murdered by 1, blacks by 1.5, and all other races by half. Finally, they found that for every 2.75 years removed from waiting time for an execution effectively deterred murder (Muhlhausen, 2007). Finally, the recidivism rate of offenders in the United States, combined with what we know about adolescent brain development and crime deterrence, is more than enough to understand why capital punishment should be applied to some children. Given the crimes, they would simply be placed in the same eligibility category as their adult counterparts. Recidivism is the relapse of a former criminal into crime. After being punished or undergoing some type of intervention, he relapses into criminal behavior (NIJ, 2018). In 2008, more than 2 million children were arrested. Of these, 95% had been charged with a violent crime, including murder, rape, or aggravated assault (Gottesman, 2011). When a child enters the system, the courts typically take control in a slightly different way. There are punishment options such as fines, drug treatment, curfews, etc. It's not all prison or harsh punishments at this age. What experts need to understand is that these methods are only effective about half the time and that certain circumstances require special measures. The Washington State CFA has produced a data sheet specifically on recidivism. Of the 2,418 girls who committed, 45.53% of them reoffended, while 52.81% of the 9,155 male children also reoffended (CFA, 2018). Nearly 9% of crimes committed in the state fall into the violent crime category. Unfortunately, Washington state is not the only place with high recidivism rates. According to Pierre, a 2007 study was conducted with 6 data tables across the United States. Experts closely monitored people for a period of 1.5 to 6 years to see if they would eventually return to the justice system or keep a clean slate. In the state of Florida, after new laws were passed, felony arrests in the juvenile community increased by 34% (Pierre, 2007). This represented all crimes and was a mixture of all the different forms of crime; not just violent. Sometimes traditional residential treatment is not an option for young offenders. More extreme sanctions were used and were not effective in the long term. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized document from our expert writers now. Get a personalized essay The transfer of minors to.