A psychiatrist testified before the Arizona Senate Judiciary Committee that juveniles who kill should not face the death penalty because the part of their brains that controls violent reaction is not fully formed.

Dr. Mark Wellek, past president of the Society for Adolescent Psychiatry, testified in support of Sen. Linda Aguirre’s bill (S1139), which would prohibit a court from imposing a death sentence on a person who committed first-degree murder while under the age of 18. He said major medical organizations oppose the death penalty for minors “because discoveries in recent years suggest that their brains are not yet developed and, therefore, they are probably not as culpable.”

17 states prohibit killing those under 18 at the time of their crime. Arizona is not one of them. In 2000, the Arizona Attorney General’s Capital Case Commission was formed and has since voted to recommend that the death penalty not be applied to those under 18. Five of Arizona's 127 death row inmates were under 18 at the time of their crime.