Press Release

Embargoed for Release:                                    Contact: Jen Corlew at 202-544-0200 x247

4pm, CST Monday, April 7, 2003                        202-270-2860 (mobile) jcorlew@aiusa.org  

 

Majority of Missourians Oppose Executions of Juvenile Offenders, New Poll Finds

 

Amnesty International Calls on Missouri Legislators to Pass Bill to Raise

Minimum Death Penalty Age to 18

 

(Washington, DC) - Fifty-five percent of Missourians oppose executing juvenile offenders - those who committed their crimes while under 18 years of age- and 58 percent support pending legislation to raise the minimum eligible age for execution to 18, finds a recent poll conducted by the University of Missouri-Columbia's Center for Advanced Social Research.  According to the poll, commissioned by Amnesty International USA (AIUSA), the majority of Missourians support the death penalty generally (76 percent) but oppose its application to juvenile offenders. These results are consistent with earlier findings.

 

AIUSA is releasing these findings in conjunction with a lobby day and rally to be held in Jefferson City on April 8th by the Ban Youth Executions Coalition, consisting of 35 state and national groups that oppose the execution of juvenile offenders.  The group will lobby for Senate Bill 312 and House Bill 255 that would raise the eligible age for execution in Missouri to 18.  Missouri currently has two juvenile offenders on death row. 

 

"These poll figures indicate that elected representatives are ignoring the will of their constituents by allowing the execution of juvenile offenders to continue in Missouri," said Sue Gunawardena-Vaughn, Director of AIUSA's Program to Abolish the Death Penalty.  "The US was the only known country in the world to execute juvenile offenders last year, and it is time for Missouri to abandon this outdated mode of retribution."

 

The University of Missouri-Columbia/ AIUSA poll put forward three questions to 561 Missouri respondents and has a five-percent margin of error. Those polled were asked if they support the death penalty in Missouri (64 percent support, 24 percent oppose, and 12 percent didn't know or refused to answer); if they support the execution of juvenile offenders (34 percent support, 55 percent oppose, and 11 percent didn't know); and if they would want their legislator to vote for or against the current bill that would raise the death penalty minimum age to 18 (58 percent said vote for, 32 percent said vote against, and 10 percent didn't know or refused.)

 

"Missouri law recognizes the vulnerability of youth and subsequently prohibits juveniles from drinking, smoking, voting, or joining the armed services," said Vaughn.  "How, then, can we possibly find juveniles eligible for the death penalty?"

 

The poll findings indicate that Missourians under age 35 and women of all ages are more likely to 

oppose the death penalty for juvenile offenders and support the new legislation to raise the death penalty eligibility age to 18 or older.

 

The Ban Youth Executions Coalition rally will be held at the Capitol Building Rotunda at 11:30 am and feature speakers from Washington University in St. Louis, the Missouri Catholic Conference, and Citizens for Missouri's Children. 

         

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For a copy of the University of Missouri-Columbia's public poll findings, to speak with Kenneth Fleming, Research Director at the University of Missouri-Columbia's Center for Advanced Social Research, or for a copy of Amnesty International's report, Indecent and Internationally Illegal: the Death Penalty Against Child Offenders, contact jcorlew@aiusa.org or at the above number

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Juvenile Offender Public Opinion Survey - March 2003

Amnesty International USA and the Center for Advanced Social Research,

School of Journalism, University of Missouri-Columbia

 

The following report summarizes findings of the survey based on 561 respondents interviewed in Missouri in March 7-14, 2003.  For a copy of the complete survey, contact Jen Corlew at jcorlew@aiusa.org

 

1) Do you support or oppose the death penalty in Missouri?                                                                                             

2) Do you support or oppose the execution of a person who was under 18 when the crime was committed?

                  

3) Currently a bill has been introduced in the Missouri State legislature to raise the minimum age for the death penalty to 18.