Citation

Finkel NJ, Hughes KC, Smith SF, Hurabiell ML. Behav. Sci. Law 1994; 12(1): 5-20.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1994, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/bsl.2370120103

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

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.

Language: en