Two black juvenile offenders aged 17 at the time of their crimes face imminent execution. Both were sentenced to death by all-white juries. Curtis Harris is scheduled to be executed on 1 July 1993 in Texas. He was convicted solely on the evidence of an accomplice, and no evidence was presented at his trial regarding his upbringing, his history of mental health problems, or the fact that he has an IQ of only 77. He was sentenced under a Texas capital statute that, despite US Supreme Court pronouncements, did not allow youth to be considered as a mitigating factor. It was changed in 1991, but prisoners sentenced under the old statute remain on death row. Frederick Lashley is on death row in Missouri awaiting an execution date, after his case had been vacated and then reinstated.
