No Choirboy: Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row

According to Walter Long, juries in capital cases are instructed to consider mitigating circumstances before imposing the death sentence. Identify at least two possible mitigating circumstances for each of the defendants who were sentenced to death: Roy, Nanon, and Napoleon.

Regarding serious crimes involving more than one suspect, Stevenson notes that the police often offer a deal to the first person willing to talk. Discuss how this procedural expediency can lead to miscarriages of justice.

Licia Hedian says that society is to blame for the actions of the teenaged accomplices of her son’s killer. Come up with three instances of how social services might have failed some of the youths Kuklin profiles (Roy, Mark, Nanon, Napoleon), contributing to their troubled lives and their crimes.