Many authors refer to the concept of “childhood” or “underage status” as an interdisciplinary object of research that belongs to different fields – history, law, philosophy, ethnography, pedagogy, psychology, sociology, and others. The issue that is associated with the death penalty or the legal status of juveniles, the age of their responsibility for offenses, in the historical context, is recognized as controversial even now. It is important to indicate the different classifications of these problems, national specifics, legal norms, gender and age characteristics, and religious affiliation. In the history of countries, it was the norms of criminal law that determined the conditions for the issuance of various sentences. It was in these documents that the age at which the responsibility and severity of punishment for an offense began were recorded.
There are several reasons for criminal law to treat juveniles differently compared to adults. First of all, in terms of psychology, the brain of the juveniles is not fully developed. Hence, there is a strong psychological reason to decrease the level of punishment for youth (Maier, 2017). Moreover, there are more chances to change the behavior of the juvenile compared to the adults. Criminal justice is seeking to correct the misbehavior of the juveniles before they become adults since youths are not fixed in terms of their personalities and are more flexible in learning from their mistakes. In addition, from an ethical point of view, it is right to protect those who are weaker and more vulnerable than others. Juveniles are a group of people within the society that have fewer rights and possibilities. Thus, they are more vulnerable and need protection from adults, not punishment. Hence, I think that the death penalty or sentence of life without parole should not be applied to the juvenile. Giving them a chance to change is psychologically and ethically the right thing to do.
Reference
Maier, S. L. (2017). Juvenile Death Penalty. The Encyclopedia of Corrections, 1-4.