United States of America
07.05.03
Urgent Interventions
USA: Children in the United States: Continuing execution and imprisonment of juvenile offenders shatters hopes of justice
The International Secretariat of OMCT is greatly concerned by the
deplorable state of the juvenile justice system in the United States
of America, especially in relation to the imposition of the death
penalty as well as life imprisonment without parole and adult
proceedings applied to offenders who committed crimes when they were
under 18. As the UN Commission on Human Rights drew to an end last
Friday, the United States attempted once again to omit any reference
to death penalty in the resolution on children's rights, which met
the opposition of the entire international community.
Execution of juvenile offenders continues
Scott Hain was executed on April 3rd 2003 by lethal injection and
was declared dead at 8:39 p.m., after the US Supreme Court
overturned a stay of the execution that had been granted by the 10th
US Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver in the previous day. The
Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board also denied Scott's request for
clemency. His lawyer, Steven Presson, appeared at the hearing with
Scott, but Presson said he could not present a credible case for
clemency because of a lack of funds. In May 1988, Scott (at the age
of 17) was sentenced by a Tulsa court for the 1987 murders of Michael
William Houghton and Laura Lee Saunders in Tulsa, but in 1993, he
successfully appealed based on an error in jury instructions. Yet,
one year later, the state sentenced him to death again.
The International Secretariat of OMCT condemns this execution and
considers that it is incompatible with international children's
rights law. The Secretariat is also greatly concerned for the 79
other juvenile offenders that await execution in the United States.
OMCT strongly supports the principles enshrined in the Convention on
the Rights of the Child (CRC), and in particular article 37 (a) which
forbids the imposition of "capital punishment (…) for offences
committed by persons below eighteen years of age (…)". While the
United States are not party to the CRC, OMCT considers that they are
nonetheless bound by this prohibition. As stated by the Inter-
American Commission on Human Rights, "a norm of international
customary law has emerged prohibiting the execution of offenders
under the age of 18 years at the time of their crime.(…)" and
"(…)this rule has been recognized as being of sufficiently indelible
nature to now constitute a norm of jus cogens (…)" .
Life imprisonment applied without pity
Lionel Tate, a 14 year old boy, was sentenced to life imprisonment
without parole on March 9th 2001. He was found guilty of the murder
of Tiffany Eunick, a 6-year-old girl. Tiffany died on July 28th 1999
at Lionel's home, after he had beaten her, when he was 12 years old.
On August 11th 1999, the Grand jury indicted Lionel and charged him
as an adult, with first-degree murder. On January 16th 2001, the
trial began and on March 9th 2001 the judge sentenced him to life in
prison without parole. He is currently in the Okeechobee Juvenile
Offender Correction Centre, where he will remain until he is 16,
after which he will finish his sentence in an as yet unknown adult
penitentiary. It should also be noted that the State Governor is
empowered to commute his sentence.
In April 1999, Rebecca Falcon was sentenced to life imprisonment
without parole at the age of 15. She was indicted as an adult and
convicted under Florida law for the felony murder of Richard
Phillips, a cab driver. On November 19th 1997, Rebecca had gone out
in the evening with a 14-year-old friend from school and his 18-year-
old cousin, Clifton Gilchrist. The three of them took a taxi cab.
Clifton, who is known to be usually armed, had a gun with him. That
night, the cab driver was shot that evening and he died six days
later. Before being indicted, Rebecca was sent to a juvenile
detention facility and she was then transferred to an isolation cell
at the Bay County Jail. She currently resides at the Lowell Women's
Prison.
OMCT considers that these two cases of imprisonment of juvenile
offenders (as well as other similar cases) are an infringement of
international children's rights law, and in particular of article
37(a) of the CRC which forbids the imposition of "life imprisonment
without possibility of release (…) for offences committed by persons
below eighteen
years of age". In addition, article 37(b) of the CRC calls upon
states to use imprisonment against a child, that is a person under 18
years of age (art.1 CRC), "only as a
measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of
time".
OMCT deems that detention on death row, as well as life imprisonment
without possibility of release, amount to torture or cruel, inhuman
and degrading treatment, which is
prohibited by the international instruments ratified by the United
States, when applied to particularly vulnerable persons such as
children (who are in the critical stages of
their development). Children sentenced to death or to life
imprisonment are subjected to severe psychological suffering and
their long term social and emotional
development is deeply affected.
Adult proceedings imposed on juvenile offenders
Lee Boyd Malvo was arrested on October 24th 2002 with John Allen
Muhammad at a highway rest facility. They are suspected in the series
of Washington area shootings
that killed 10 people and wounded three others last October. Malvo
was transferred to an ordinary court and on January 22nd 2003 he was
indicted as an adult with three
charges under Virginia law, namely for murder of more than one person
in three years, murder as an act of terrorism, and using a firearm
during a felony. This indictment
makes him eligible to the death penalty, as Virginia has no minimum
age at which juveniles can be subjected to such sentences.
Increasingly, across the United States children are being tried as
adults when they commit serious crimes. In fact, it is considered
that some types of crimes are so
serious that they do not belong in a juvenile justice system that is
designed to promote the child's reintegration and holding of a
constructive role in society. For this reason,
many states have recently resorted to adult courts instead of
juvenile courts when such crimes were being considered.
OMCT is greatly concerned about this recent trend and is also deeply
preoccupied by the fact that trying juveniles as adults can make them
eligible for severe punishments
which have no rehabilitative purpose, such as the death penalty or
life imprisonment.
According to article 40(3) of the CRC, "States Parties shall seek to
promote the establishment of laws, procedures, authorities and
institutions specifically applicable to
children alleged as, accused of, or recognised as having infringed
the penal law (…)".
As a consequence, OMCT urges the United States authorities to abolish
the death penalty and life imprisonment without parole that is
imposed for offences committed by persons below 18 years of age and
to abolish laws which allow children to be tried as adult.
More specifically, OMCT calls on the United States authorities to
commute the sentences handed down to Lionel Tate, Rebecca Falcon and
other juveniles that have been sentenced to life imprisonment without
parole, to commute the sentence of the 79 juvenile offenders on
death row, and to guarantee that Lee Boyd Malvo (and all minors
having committed serious crimes) will not be tried as an adult.
deplorable state of the juvenile justice system in the United States
of America, especially in relation to the imposition of the death
penalty as well as life imprisonment without parole and adult
proceedings applied to offenders who committed crimes when they were
under 18. As the UN Commission on Human Rights drew to an end last
Friday, the United States attempted once again to omit any reference
to death penalty in the resolution on children's rights, which met
the opposition of the entire international community.
Execution of juvenile offenders continues
Scott Hain was executed on April 3rd 2003 by lethal injection and
was declared dead at 8:39 p.m., after the US Supreme Court
overturned a stay of the execution that had been granted by the 10th
US Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver in the previous day. The
Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board also denied Scott's request for
clemency. His lawyer, Steven Presson, appeared at the hearing with
Scott, but Presson said he could not present a credible case for
clemency because of a lack of funds. In May 1988, Scott (at the age
of 17) was sentenced by a Tulsa court for the 1987 murders of Michael
William Houghton and Laura Lee Saunders in Tulsa, but in 1993, he
successfully appealed based on an error in jury instructions. Yet,
one year later, the state sentenced him to death again.
The International Secretariat of OMCT condemns this execution and
considers that it is incompatible with international children's
rights law. The Secretariat is also greatly concerned for the 79
other juvenile offenders that await execution in the United States.
OMCT strongly supports the principles enshrined in the Convention on
the Rights of the Child (CRC), and in particular article 37 (a) which
forbids the imposition of "capital punishment (…) for offences
committed by persons below eighteen years of age (…)". While the
United States are not party to the CRC, OMCT considers that they are
nonetheless bound by this prohibition. As stated by the Inter-
American Commission on Human Rights, "a norm of international
customary law has emerged prohibiting the execution of offenders
under the age of 18 years at the time of their crime.(…)" and
"(…)this rule has been recognized as being of sufficiently indelible
nature to now constitute a norm of jus cogens (…)" .
Life imprisonment applied without pity
Lionel Tate, a 14 year old boy, was sentenced to life imprisonment
without parole on March 9th 2001. He was found guilty of the murder
of Tiffany Eunick, a 6-year-old girl. Tiffany died on July 28th 1999
at Lionel's home, after he had beaten her, when he was 12 years old.
On August 11th 1999, the Grand jury indicted Lionel and charged him
as an adult, with first-degree murder. On January 16th 2001, the
trial began and on March 9th 2001 the judge sentenced him to life in
prison without parole. He is currently in the Okeechobee Juvenile
Offender Correction Centre, where he will remain until he is 16,
after which he will finish his sentence in an as yet unknown adult
penitentiary. It should also be noted that the State Governor is
empowered to commute his sentence.
In April 1999, Rebecca Falcon was sentenced to life imprisonment
without parole at the age of 15. She was indicted as an adult and
convicted under Florida law for the felony murder of Richard
Phillips, a cab driver. On November 19th 1997, Rebecca had gone out
in the evening with a 14-year-old friend from school and his 18-year-
old cousin, Clifton Gilchrist. The three of them took a taxi cab.
Clifton, who is known to be usually armed, had a gun with him. That
night, the cab driver was shot that evening and he died six days
later. Before being indicted, Rebecca was sent to a juvenile
detention facility and she was then transferred to an isolation cell
at the Bay County Jail. She currently resides at the Lowell Women's
Prison.
OMCT considers that these two cases of imprisonment of juvenile
offenders (as well as other similar cases) are an infringement of
international children's rights law, and in particular of article
37(a) of the CRC which forbids the imposition of "life imprisonment
without possibility of release (…) for offences committed by persons
below eighteen
years of age". In addition, article 37(b) of the CRC calls upon
states to use imprisonment against a child, that is a person under 18
years of age (art.1 CRC), "only as a
measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of
time".
OMCT deems that detention on death row, as well as life imprisonment
without possibility of release, amount to torture or cruel, inhuman
and degrading treatment, which is
prohibited by the international instruments ratified by the United
States, when applied to particularly vulnerable persons such as
children (who are in the critical stages of
their development). Children sentenced to death or to life
imprisonment are subjected to severe psychological suffering and
their long term social and emotional
development is deeply affected.
Adult proceedings imposed on juvenile offenders
Lee Boyd Malvo was arrested on October 24th 2002 with John Allen
Muhammad at a highway rest facility. They are suspected in the series
of Washington area shootings
that killed 10 people and wounded three others last October. Malvo
was transferred to an ordinary court and on January 22nd 2003 he was
indicted as an adult with three
charges under Virginia law, namely for murder of more than one person
in three years, murder as an act of terrorism, and using a firearm
during a felony. This indictment
makes him eligible to the death penalty, as Virginia has no minimum
age at which juveniles can be subjected to such sentences.
Increasingly, across the United States children are being tried as
adults when they commit serious crimes. In fact, it is considered
that some types of crimes are so
serious that they do not belong in a juvenile justice system that is
designed to promote the child's reintegration and holding of a
constructive role in society. For this reason,
many states have recently resorted to adult courts instead of
juvenile courts when such crimes were being considered.
OMCT is greatly concerned about this recent trend and is also deeply
preoccupied by the fact that trying juveniles as adults can make them
eligible for severe punishments
which have no rehabilitative purpose, such as the death penalty or
life imprisonment.
According to article 40(3) of the CRC, "States Parties shall seek to
promote the establishment of laws, procedures, authorities and
institutions specifically applicable to
children alleged as, accused of, or recognised as having infringed
the penal law (…)".
As a consequence, OMCT urges the United States authorities to abolish
the death penalty and life imprisonment without parole that is
imposed for offences committed by persons below 18 years of age and
to abolish laws which allow children to be tried as adult.
More specifically, OMCT calls on the United States authorities to
commute the sentences handed down to Lionel Tate, Rebecca Falcon and
other juveniles that have been sentenced to life imprisonment without
parole, to commute the sentence of the 79 juvenile offenders on
death row, and to guarantee that Lee Boyd Malvo (and all minors
having committed serious crimes) will not be tried as an adult.