Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Execution of Children and Adolescents in Early America

I am glad to see that J.L. Bell has taken up an exploration of the history of capital punishment for juveniles in the wake of the Supreme Court's recent decision in Graham v. Florida.

I have commented on this issue in my guest post over on Executed Today regarding the execution of Hannah Ocuish in 1786. I agree with Bell that this story cannot be told without acknowledging that all of the youngest children put to death in the United States have been children of color.

More discussion on the Early American Crime blog.

2 comments:

J. L. Bell said...

D’oh! Totally missed that the Executed Today posting was by you. Thanks for the summary of that case.

noelani said...

By posting about Hannah, you have given her much more respect than she was ever given in her mortal life. Thank you.