From the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty press release today:

TEXAS POISED TO EXECUTE YET ANOTHER AFRICAN AMERICAN JUVENILE OFFENDER

"Aug. 26, 2002 -- Amid growing protests from both within the United States and abroad, the state of Texas is prepared to execute yet another African American juvenile offender. If the execution of Toronto Patterson proceeds as scheduled on Wednesday, Aug. 28, it will mean that the past six executions of juvenile offenders in the United States will have taken place in Texas and will have
involved African Americans...."

"Toronto's coerced confession did not even conform with physical and forensic evidence at the crime scene," Hawkins said. "Toronto's trial attorneys did not reveal to the jury the full circumstances surrounding Toronto's so-called confession. They did not offer to the jury substantial mitigating evidence concerning Toronto's background. They failed even to present biological evidence that juvenile offenders have lesser capacity for reflective judgment
and impulse control than adult offenders. This should obviously not have been a death penalty case."

NCADP Executive Director Stephen Hawkins "renewed his call for Texas Gov. Rick Perry to acknowledge the role that race and geography play in the application of the death penalty, particularly as it relates to juvenile offenders,
and to stay Toronto's execution."

Here are some statistics in the press release:

Of the 80 juvenile offenders on death row in the United States, 51, or almost two thirds, are people of color. Of the 80 inmates, just over half -- 41 -- are from Texas or Alabama.

As to the company we keep:

"Only three countries -- the United States, Iran and the Democratic Republic of Congo -- are believed to currently execute juvenile offenders. Earlier this month, Pakistan announced it is sparing the lives of 72 juvenile offenders while in the Philippines, the Supreme Court ordered the removal of a dozen juvenile
offenders from death row, ruling that their execution would violate the law."

It is just plain wrong and contrary to human decency to execute those who committed crimes as juveniles. As Mr. Hawkins points out:

"The mind of a juvenile offender is by definition less developed than the mind of an adult. Juvenile minds do not handle social pressure, instinctual urges and other stresses the way that adult minds do. Juvenile offenders therefore cannot be held to the same degree of culpability as adults, just as mentally retarded people cannot be held to the same degree of culpability. We now ban the
execution of mentally retarded offenders. There can be little justification for applying a different standard when it comes to juveniles."

On a related matter, 160 death row inmates in Illinois are peparing to file clemency petititions by Monday.

Gov. Ryan initiated the moratorium in 2000 after after 13 Illinois death row inmates had been found to have been wrongly convicted. But he's leaving office in January. The due date for clemency petitions is Monday. Gov. Ryan also appointed a commission to study the cases. The commission issued a report recommending 85 changes to the Illinois death penalty system.

But Gov. Ryan isn't receiving praise today. Seems there isn't enough staff to review all the petitions in time to make a reasoned decision.

``I'm going to think about all these things and see how it all falls into place between now and when I leave,'' the Republican governor said.

"Bill Ryan, president of the Illinois Death Penalty Moratorium Project, said, ``That's ludicrous.'' ``That almost makes me speechless. We're talking about people's lives,'' said Ryan, who is not related to the governor.

And neither George Ryan nor Bill Ryan is related to Jim Ryan, who is running for Governor of Illinois and who Daily Kos today said was receiving his kharmic due for prosecuting Rolando Cruz many years back, another case of wrongful conviction.