One June 16th, 1944, the United States executed a 14 year old boy. His name was George Junius Stinney Jr.
There is good reason to believe Stinney’s confession was coerced, and that his execution was just another injustice blacks suffered in Southern courtrooms in the first half of the 1900s.
More from SC crusaders look to right Jim Crow justice wrongs, by Jeffrey Collins for The Associated Press (Jan. 18, 2010)
The sheriff at the time said Stinney admitted to the killings, but there is only his word — no written record of the confession has been found. A lawyer with the case figures threats of mob violence and not being able to see his parents rattled the seventh-grader.
Attorney Steve McKenzie said he has even heard one account that says detectives offered the boy ice cream once they were done.
“You’ve got to know he was going to say whatever they wanted him to say,” McKenzie said.
The court appointed Stinney an attorney — a tax commissioner preparing for a Statehouse run. In all, the trial — from jury selection to a sentence of death — lasted one day. Records indicate 1,000 people crammed the courthouse. Blacks weren’t allowed inside.
The defense called no witnesses and never filed an appeal. No one challenged the sheriff’s recollection of the confession.
“As an attorney, it just kind of haunted me, just the way the judicial system worked to this boy’s disadvantage or disfavor. It did not protect him,” said McKenzie, who is preparing court papers to ask a judge to reopen the case.
Stinney’s official court record contains less than two dozen pages, several of them arrest warrants. There is no transcript of the trial.
RESOURCES
Sound Portrait: George Stinney, Youngest Executed (2004)
When Killing a Juvenile was Routine
Too Young To Die: The Execution of George Stinney Jr. (1944) in Ch. 5, ‘South Carolina Killers: Crimes of Passion’, by Mark R. Jones.
26 comments
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September 20, 2011 at 2:42 pm
Quaashiea
wow thats deep American was build on things like it doesnt amaze me.
September 23, 2011 at 10:57 am
sandra thompsom
WOM! thats why in this century we have a chance to do something with our
live. Lets teach our kids that we wasn’t allowed to go to school and was
hanged lets get our act together and stop droping out of school and tearing
each other down.
September 23, 2011 at 4:22 pm
LW
Injustice in this world is just shocking!
September 24, 2011 at 3:26 am
DEE SMITH
FIRST , I HATE TO LEAVE A COMMENT, BEING A BLACK MAN,
BECAUSE THE POWERS THAT BE MAY FALSELY ACCUSE ME OF SOMETHING THAT I DID NOT DO.
YET , I HAVE BEEN FALSELY ACCUSED BEFORE BY WHITE PEOPLE,
AND BLACK PEOPLE , WHO BACKED THESE WHITE PEOPLES CLAIMS,
WHO FALSELY ACCUSED ME.
THE AMERICAN JUSTICE SYSTEM SHOULD BE ON TRIAL.
ALL THE WORLD SAW THAT THE AMERICAN JUSTICE SYSTEM
DID NOT PRESERVE AND PROTECT, BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT,THE HUMAN AND LEGAL RIGHTS OF TROY DAVIS,, AND EVERY ONE , AT THIS TIME , KNOWS THIS….!!!!
September 24, 2011 at 6:38 am
sandra robinson
you’ve got to kidding…black or white to excute a child in not what God loves, they will have to answer to GOD..with no investigation, more then likely they let the real murderer go free..i can’t find the words to say how wrong on so many levels this was…
September 25, 2011 at 6:46 pm
takeya
thats sad how are system work its suppose to protect us instead it kills us mentally physically i realy dont understand how they tell us its a crime to takee someone life and punish us for it but yet they capital punish for us is execution so how is it legal for them to take are life but not ok for no one else killing is killing its not for no one to take any ones life but god
September 26, 2011 at 6:23 pm
Shawn
THE ULTIMATE JUDGE OF ALL CASES WILL BE GOD.. I cant fathom the things that fly with this unbalanced CJ system… We can only pray and wait for Our Father to come back and save us from this madness.. Lets pray for the families of the innocent victims accused daily of crimes
September 27, 2011 at 5:01 am
Nay
Im 13 years old and im doing this story for my current event homework and as I read threw it I notice it couldnt have been this child he is onlu 5″1 and weights 95 and their was 2 white female they blamed he killed but I beleive it was about his race and they didnt like him for being black
September 27, 2011 at 8:38 am
Rue Grey
It Goes to show the times has changed but hasnt. we are still losing our young souls to drug selling and dope dealers and mothers not taking the time to put a man figure in these boys lives. you dont need a man just a man role model. we need to band together and understand whats happening in this world. Pray
September 27, 2011 at 7:25 pm
Gregory Williams
When I read stories like this, my first feeling is sorrow and then my second feeling is anger. Angry that something like this could happen and still happening in this day and time. Angry because great men and women have laid their lives on the line and we continue to take things for granted. We all know Malcolm and Martin and what they done, what about the thousand of people who paid with their lives. The ones you don’t know about until they put their story in Jet. I don’t know George Stinney Jr. But I do know that everytime we hurt one another or not take advantage of opportunities we dishonor his memory and all of those before and after him.
September 28, 2011 at 11:58 am
karen
In 1944, in America, these atrocities were common place. Very much like today.
September 28, 2011 at 2:01 pm
Rene
Of course the boy was probably innocent and should be officially exonorated. What we need to ask is, in the wake of the execution of Troy Davis, why is the Stinney case being given attention NOW? I’m willing to bet money that whoever got this ball rolling is about to run for an election. None of the articles I’ve read so far have included interviews with this young man’s surviving family members. Is there any of his family left? And if not, then who benefits from this? Probably a white guy.
September 28, 2011 at 5:19 pm
Kevin Crump
When you read something to the Magnitude of this happening here or anywhere. The reality of an Injustice’ well, words can’t express the hurt anyone feels reading this story” the judicial system failed in so many ways, #1 that’s a crime in itself, but the child who was killed” had nothing or anyone too hear his cry,his pain,and for that alone makes me cry inside and I didn’t even know him, Hell” he didn’t even have to chance to make many mistakes,but God has his hand, Sad too hear.
September 29, 2011 at 12:14 am
JoanieXYZ
So typical, even today! The American justice system often picks on “the pick-on-able.” Then the police can close the books shut– another case solved! But nothing is solved and this type of thing is a real travesty!
September 29, 2011 at 10:07 am
Deb-concerned citizen
Yes, there is family left on both sides of the case. Please see: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3050069
This audio story reminds us that there were three victims and their families in this case. The State of South Carolina may be responsible for the death of George Stinney, Jr but the person(s) involved in the little girls deaths was never brought to justice. It is time to reopen this case and find the truth. It isn’t too late. Remember Rosewood, Florida? The State of Florida and the United States apologized and made restitution to the families’ survivors. History was updated to the current facts. After Stinney’s case is completed, maybe they can open Troy Davis’ case, fix history, and offer his family compensation that will not fill their emotional void.
September 29, 2011 at 1:57 pm
Meschell
This story made me cry…this young man was framed from the get-go. The trial lasted only ONE day..and no blacks were allowed in the courtroom! .Then he was sentenced to death..he was just a babe in the woods. He was found guilty without reason just like Jesus was.
This is so horrendous…God rest his young soul 67 years later…
September 29, 2011 at 5:33 pm
Amanda J. C.
Reading this srory made me think of the movie “The Green Mile” I’ve read some shocking things but this one really hurts. We may not know what really happened to those two little girls or who really killed them. But we do know who killed Stinney (the judge, jury, prosecutor, lawyer and those in the courtroom. But you can rest assure that justice will prevail because God and the one(s) reponsible for taken those little girls lives will be rightly judged. And yes Stinney had no one to hear his cry BUT GOD!!! and know that his cries will not go unanswered.
September 29, 2011 at 6:26 pm
KK Thompson
Even when our young men are model citizens with no history of violence or drugs,they are hunted down like prey for the slaughter. We need to take a stand and fight for our young men.The people involved in these unspeakable acts,will suffer a fate worse than death.An eternity of damnation!
September 29, 2011 at 7:43 pm
Damn shame
This is a damn shame…
October 2, 2011 at 6:04 pm
Ruth
This is the kind of story that makes one ashamed to be white. You can tell in the one photo that he had been roughed up, there is brusing on his little face.
November 30, 2011 at 6:41 pm
naydeanharrington
ITS SO SAD WHAT CAN A PARENT DO…………..HOW CAN THEY PROTECT THERE CHILD WHEN AT THE TIME ITS SEEM LIKE THE WHOLE WORLD IS AGANST YOU……………GOD HELP US ALL……….. TO BE OR NOT TO BE………… WHATS LEFT BUT PRAY…………JUST HEART BREAKING TO READ AND TO SEE THIS CHILD I MEAN CHILD………..MY HEART GOES OUT TO HIS MOTHER AND FATHER AND LOVE ONES……………………………………..
January 1, 2012 at 9:27 pm
Annastasia
The grief behind this story is unspeakable! Unbelievable! I can’t imagine being this boys mother. Her pain must have matched his! We all need to apologize to African Americans for the things the white people of the past did to them! That poor child…
January 9, 2012 at 1:35 pm
Gilberto Martin
It sounds like a sarcastic joke…while the USA were fighting in the WW2 against the nazis.
March 3, 2012 at 7:52 am
phylicia
this boy didn’t kill those girls he was so small and underweight for his age that alone should have raised some red flags but these were white people who didn’t care for blacks ..
May 1, 2012 at 6:42 am
tgtpye
And now we have a for-profit prison system…..
June 5, 2012 at 4:37 am
Elj
It is apparent this child was murdered. this should not happen to any child. Y be so quick to through a young life away like that. We have to keep in mind that not all of white america is racist and hate us for the color of our skin but when things like this happen its hard.