Although William Wayne Thompson and two others escaped execution because they were juveniles sentenced to death in a State that has not legislatively authorized the execution of persons under 16 years old, the Supreme Court's ruling in the Thompson case does not make the execution of juveniles unconstitutional. States need only legislatively specify the minimum age for offenders who may receive the death penalty in order to comply with the Supreme Court's ruling. An occasional execution of a juvenile will not serve any of the legitimate social purposes underlying capital punishment. It will do little more than assuage a particular judge's or jury's distaste for a particular juvenile, not for juvenile killers as a whole. Although the argument of arbitrariness supports the abolition of capital punishment for all ages, it is particularly appropriate when applied to children, who are often unable to appreciate the consequences of their actions. 189 footnotes.