Sorry for the grim question but can anyone tell how old is the youngest person ever known to be on “death row” in a US Prision and who is, or was, the youngest to ever actually be executed?
mm
George Stinney was 14 years 7 months when he was executed in June of 1944, making him the youngest person legally executed in the US in the 20th century. He’s also briefly mentioned here (scroll down to “Juveniles”).
And reading this kid’s history at the Crime Library, you can see why my last quote specified the 20th century.
From Chapter 2:
“It is difficult to identify the youngest person legally executed in American history, but it surely may be a Cherokee Indian who was hanged for murder in 1885. He was ten years old.”
I don’t think I have ever read a question/answer in GQ that I wished was in the BBQ.
Just for the sake of clarity, are you pissed off at me for answering, the OP for asking, or the fact that a 14 year old was executed?
Not you or the OP. Sorry for being unclear.
That is just terrible, that a child could be executed, in the twentieth century, in a Western country. But maybe I’m just hopelessly naive.
And what a surprise, the kid was black. :mad:
Historical context: in South Carolina, the state which executed George Stinney, 14 years was legally the age of sexual consent or marriage. In other words, 14 was for most purposes considered adulthood.
(Today, the minimum age of marriage in South Carolina is 14 years for females and 16 for males.)
I admit that I don’t really consider 16-y.o. to be children, myself. While I don’t generaly believe in the DP, it’s a definite fact that through pretyt much all of human history, people were considered adults at about that age or a little older, so it’s hardly a monstrous crime against all civilization.