
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 30, 1995                   TAG: 9503300085
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: UNITED NATIONS                                LENGTH: Short

U.S. REJECTS APPEAL TO END JUVENILE DEATH PENALTIES

The U.S. government Wednesday rejected appeals by human rights groups to ban the death penalty for convicts under age 18.

The United States came under tough questioning on the first day of a review of its compliance with a major U.N. human rights agreement.

The hearing by an 18-member panel of legal experts is the first since the United States joined the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1992

The United States has claimed an exemption from the pact's ban on the death penalty for those under age 18.

Last week, a human rights group urged the United States to end the death penalty, starting with an immediate ban on the execution of under-18 convicts.

Human Rights Watch, based in New York, said the United States has executed more minors than any other country except Iraq and possibly Iran. On Wednesday, a State Department legal adviser read a statement to the U.N. human rights panel saying that executions of youths simply reflected American public sentiment.

by CNB