US juvenile death penalty abolished

The US Supreme Court yesterday abolished the death penalty for juveniles, a major victory for opponents of capital punishment in the last country in the world that gave official sanction to the execution of people who commit crimes as minors.

By a 5-4 vote, the high court declared unconstitutional the death penalty those under the age of 18 when they committed their crimes, a decision that could affect more than 70 death row inmates who face execution for murders done when they were 16 or 17 years old.

The decision amounted to a significant change from the Supreme Court ruling 16 years ago when it held the execution of juvenile offenders did not violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

The Amnesty International human rights organisation, which has campaigned for years against the execution of child offenders, hailed the ruling.

"We see today's ruling as one of the final milestones in the road to global abolition of the death penalty for crimes committed by children," she said.