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Article
Can a United States Treaty Reservation Provide a Sanctuary for the Juvenile Death Penalty
University of San Francisco Law Review (1998)
  • Connie de la Vega
  • Jennifer Jean Brown
Abstract
This article examines the United States' use of the death penalty for juvenile offenders in the context of international human rights. It provides an overview of the development and status of United States law regarding the juvenile death penalty, and it briefly reviews the traditional arguments against the United States death penalty in general, with an emphasis on the application of these arguments to the juvenile death penalty in particular. It then reviews a number of international agreements dealing with the juvenile death penalty, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ("ICCPR"), and it explores the validity of the United States reservation to the ICCPR's prohibition of the juvenile death penalty in relation to international treaties, customary international law and the doctrine of jus cogens. Finally, it reviews international scrutiny of the United States juvenile death penalty laws, and concludes that it will mount until the United States conforms to international norms on this issue.
Keywords
  • juvenile death penalty,
  • death penalty,
  • international human rights,
  • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
  • customary international law,
  • jus cogens doctrine,
  • Convention on the Rights of the Child,
  • capital punishment
Publication Date
1998
Citation Information
Connie de la Vega and Jennifer Jean Brown. "Can a United States Treaty Reservation Provide a Sanctuary for the Juvenile Death Penalty" University of San Francisco Law Review Vol. 32 (1998)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/connie_de_la_vega/11/