Human Rights Watch called on Missouri Governor Bob Holden to grant clemency for Antonio Richardson, who was sentenced to death for murders committed when he was sixteen years old. Richardson is scheduled for execution by lethal injection on March 7.
'A civilized society cannot tolerate executions for crimes committed by children," said Lois Whitman, Executive Director of the Children's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch. "The rest of the world speaks in a united voice against this practice. We should listen."
There have only been six known executions of people who committed offenses at age sixteen or younger in the world since 1990. If Richardson's execution is carried out, it will be the second such execution in the United States in the past two years.
In the last decade, there have only been twenty-five known executions of offenders under the age of eighteen worldwide. Thirteen of the twenty-five took place in the United States.
In a letter to Governor Holden, Human Rights Watch also notes that Richardson's execution will be in violation of international law because he has mental retardation and has been diagnosed with organic brain damage. The overwhelming majority of countries respect international human rights standards opposing the use of the death penalty against mentally disabled defendants. Even in the United States, many states that have the death penalty observe these standards. Other states, including Missouri, are considering legislation that would exempt people with mental retardation from the death penalty.
The execution of individuals for crimes committed before age eighteen is specifically prohibited by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which has been ratified by the United States and more than 125 countries, as well as the nearly-universally ratified Convention on the Rights of the Child. Since 1990, the only other countries known to have executed juvenile offenders are the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Two of these countries, Pakistan and Yemen, have since changed their laws to exclude the execution of juvenile offenders.
