Resources

On March 1, 2005 in the case of Roper v. Simmons, the US Supreme Court, held in a 5-4 vote that the death penalty, as applied to those under eighteen years of age at the time of the crime, violates evolving standards of decency and is prohibited by the Eighth Amendment ban on "cruel and unusual punishment" of the US Constitution.

The page below consists of archived information.

For further information on the decision and context click here

The resources section of this website is designed to provide litigators with essential tools to assist in the defence of juvenile offenders.

Please read the IJP's collection of sample juvenile briefs.

IJP Resources

• Juvenile Death Penalty: Representation Resource 2002 (International Justice Project & American Bar Association's Juvenile Justice Center; Please contact IJP for a copy)
• Juvenile Death Penalty: Representation Resource 2002 (Mitigation Supplement) (International Justice Project & American Bar Association's Juvenile Justice Center) - click here (984 KB PDF)

  The guide and supplement are designed for use by the lawyer with a juvenile, capital client. These materials are designed to be used from the initial client interview through a possible penalty phase hearing.

• Mitigation Factors
• Brain Development
• Trauma
• Atkins v Virginia Summary
• Atkins v Virginia Implications
• Summary of Customary International law and Jus Cogens

Other Resources

• Inter-American Commission on Human Rights report on Napoleon Beazley. The Commission recognizes an international law "jus cogens" norm absolutely barring nations from utilizing the death penalty for capital offenses committed by persons under age 18. (Note this is a large file and might take several minutes to download).
• International Human Rights Law and Instruments: An overview of international law concepts and pertinent resources.
• Juvenile Statistics Table
• Minimum Ages for Application of Death Penalty in the United States
• Amnesty International: The Exclusion of Child Offenders from the Death Penalty under General International Law - July 2003
• Amnesty International Report
  United States: Indecent and internationally illegal: The Death Penalty Against Child Offenders
• Amnesty International Report on Worldwide Executions Since 1990
• Amnesty International: Supreme Court to revisit constitutionality of executing child offenders
• Domingues v United States (Decision)
• The Juvenile Death Penalty Today: Death Sentences and Executions for Juvenile Crimes
  (January 1, 1973 - April 30, 2004; by Victor L. Streib, Professor of Law, The Claude W. Pettit College of Law, Ohio Northern University)
  This is a thorough and detailed report concerning juvenile executions today. Includes offender information as well as state by state information.
  

• National Council on Disability: Addressing the Needs of Youth with Disabilities in the Juvenile Justice System: The Current Status of Evidence-based Research
• United Nations
  Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Mr. Bacre Waly Ndiaye, submitted pursuant to Commission resolution 1997/61
• Links

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