The United States Supreme Court has held that the United States Constitution does not prohibit the execution of defendants who were 16 years or older when they committed a murder. The federal government, and many states have imposed age 18 as the minimum at which a defendant is eligible for the death penalty. The United Nations and the American Bar Association recommend the higher minimum age.

Arguments in favor of changing the minimum age from 16 to 18 in Arizona are similar to those advanced in opposition to executing persons with mental retardation. A child or adolescent normally does not possess the level of moral responsibility and culpability that society expects of an adult.

Arguments against enacting a minimum age center primarily on the fact that the defendant’s age is already being considered to be a significant mitigating circumstance; the only cases involving 16 or 17- year-old defendants sentenced to death in Arizona have been ones with particularly egregious aggravating circumstances.