[Mithaldu]

For cultural context, i live in germany.

Are you american and really think this is a sane path of action: "The Convention is unlikely to be ratified in the near future because it forbids both the death penalty and life imprisonment for children [...] threatening national control over domestic policy"

To be honest, to me this sounds exactly like immigrants to germany claiming a right to honor slayings because it's part of their culture.

If that's not the statement you tried to make, please clarify what exactly you think is the US' stated reason for not signing it.

[refurb]

Since 2005 Supreme Court decisions found juvenile executions unconstitutional as "cruel and unusual punishment"[50][51][52] and that mandatory sentences of life without the possibility of parole are unconstitutional for juvenile offenders.

So the US already can't execute or imprison children. So that's not the reason for not signing it.

[betterunix]

Note that the US can still given juvenile offenders life sentences, it just cannot be a mandatory punishment for a crime.

[lostlogin]

Thanks for this. For anyone interested, here is a list if US executions of juvenile offenders since '76. I was sure that I had read of recent cases, but I must be getting old, as that list ends in 2003. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_juvenile_offenders_ex...

[xenophanes]

Actually I think the US's inclination towards local authorities controlling things, and not being controlled much by broader authority, is very good. It's a more decentralized approach that allows for diversity.

The thing about strong central authority is when it makes mistakes they are much harder to deal with. And mistakes are inevitable from all authorities.