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Also thrown into the mix is the issue of the death penalty for juveniles. It is bad enough that we ignore the ineffectiveness of capital punishment for adults. Do we really want to make the same mistake with juveniles? According to studies conducted by author Roger Hood, "Research has failed to provide scientific proof that executions have a greater deterrent effect than life imprisonment and such proof is unlikely to be forthcoming." He further states, " [that] the threat of execution at some future date is unlikely to enter the minds of people who are acting under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol, or who are in the grip of fear or rage, who panic while committing another crime (such as robbery), or who suffer from mental illness or mental retardation and do not fully understand the gravity of their crime. Likewise, children and young people are less likely than mature adults to reflect upon or genuinely comprehend the consequences of their actions." Furthermore, the American Bar Association asserts that capital punishment is a far more expensive system than one whose maximum penalty is life in prison. The greatest costs of the death penalty are incurred prior to and at trial, not in post-conviction proceedings. In Texas, for example, a death penalty case costs an average of $2.3 million, about 3 times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years. In Florida, each execution costs the state $3.2 million, compared to $600,000 for life imprisonment. Even if all post-conviction proceedings were abolished, the death penalty system would still be more expensive than the alternative.
Aside from the deterrence myth and astronomical costs of the death penalty, it is important to consider the mindset of a juvenile who commits even the most egregious act. Research by Harvard University Medical Center on adolescent brain development has "contradicted previously held beliefs that the brain was fully developed by age 14.