What difference does their age make? They still committed a murder and should be subject to the same penalty that would befall any one else who commits the same crime.
What age is too young then? 8, 9 years old? Little Timmy hits his little sister with a bat out of anger and kills her.. Does the court system kill him too?
What age is too young? Out of diapers?
How about if an 11 year old killed someone--would you say the same thing?
No, because he's just a kid, he can't think like an adult and understand what he did. No one wants to execute 11 year olds.
So, where do we draw the line? It seems like people want to draw the line below 18. Maybe 14? Well, tough. 18 as an age of consent is enshrined in our laws. If a 15 year old girl has sex with her 30 year old gym teacher, she's a child victim and the man is headed for jail, but if she commits a crime, she's an adult, equivalent to the 30 year old. It seems like there's a disparity here and we need to err on the side of caution before the age of consent is lowered to 14.
And let's not get started on what "14 year olds are really adults and should pay the price for their crimes" would mean to parental notification laws for killing babies.
Are you serious? Ok then why cant juveniles sit on juries? Do they lack reason? Or can 12 yr olds serve in the military?