U.S. sentences child offenders to death: report

The United States is one of the few countries that sentence child offenders to death, says the Human Rights Record of the United States in 2006 issued on Thursday.

Statistics showed that among the 2,985 inmates sentenced to death for whom the date of arrest was available, 342 inmates, or 11 percent, were 19 or younger at the time of their arrest, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

American juveniles often fall victim to on-campus violence crimes.

Statistics showed that from July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005, there were 21 homicides at American schools.

Twenty-eight percent of students 12 to 18 years old reported being bullied at school, and 24 percent of students reported that there were gangs at their schools during the first six months of 2005.

The Los Angeles Times reported on Nov. 14, 2006 that about 7,400 students were arrested for on-campus crimes in Chicago schools during the 2005-06 school year.