Twenty-four of the 36 States with the death penalty have laws that allow the imposition of death sentences on juveniles. In June 1989 the U.S. Supreme Court held that the execution of offenders as young as 16 is permissible under the U.S. Constitution. There are more juvenile offenders on death row in the United States than in any other country known to Amnesty International. The imposition of death sentences on juvenile offenders is in clear contravention of international human rights standards contained in numerous international instruments. Amnesty International does not argue that juveniles should not be held criminally liable or subjected to severe penalties where appropriate; however, international standards recognize that the death penalty is inappropriate for persons who have not attained full physical or emotional maturity at the time of their offenses. In the 23 cases examined in detail by Amnesty International, the large majority of the juveniles came from acutely deprived backgrounds. U.S. capital punishment laws contain safeguards designed to ensure that the death penalty is applied fairly and imposed only for the worst crimes and most culpable offenders. The evidence in the cases examined, however, indicates that these safeguards have not been met in practice. Appended relevant international standards and 41 footnotes