A couple of years ago, I saw a TV movie which portayed the alleged true story of a ten year old black boy who was executed for murder in the USA, possibly in the 1930s.
I seem to remember that the boy was accused of beating a woman to death with a plank of wood, and it transpired during the trail the boy had only one withered arm, and therefore could not have lifted the wood. But he still went to the 'chair.
Is this a true story? Was this apparent injustice ever made right?
According to this site the youngest person ever executed by the US was a 10 year old Cherokee boy in 1885.
Since WWII it was a 14 yo African American boy in 1944 in South Carolina
The part about the withered arm sounds like the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, but the accused was not ten years old, and it is a work of fiction.
The US Supreme Court ruled in 1988 that 16 was the youngest anyone could be and get the death penalty.
I suppose very young children might have been hung during colonial times, but as far as I can tell, your TV movie was fiction.
Nor can I believe that if the US had executed someone who was
a) innocent,
b) black,and
c) ten years old
that DP opponents would ever stop talking about it.
So I will go out on a rather short limb, and say that it never happened.
Regards,
Shodan