....the United States of America stands almost alone in the world in our fascination with the death penalty, and our few remaining companions are regimes with a lack of respect for basic human rights. Ninety percent of all known executions are carried out in just four countries: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. In fact, our nation and Somalia (which has no organized government) are the only two that have refused to ratify the International Covenant on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits execution for crimes committed by children. Since 1990, only seven countries other than the United States had executed people for crimes they committed as juveniles, and even those -- Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Nigeria, China and the Democratic Republic of the Congo -- now have disavowed the practice. Finally, in March 2005 the U. S. Supreme Court voted five-to-four to outlaw juvenile executions -- a decision strongly condemned by many conservative Christians.
Jimmy Carter -- Our Endangered Values
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