In the 20th century, the youngest person executed in the United States was George Stinney Jr. He was just 14 years old when he was put to death in the electric chair. From the day of his trial until his execution, he held a Bible in his hands, repeatedly declaring his innocence.
Stinney was accused of murdering two white girls—11-year-old Betty and 7-year-old Mary. Their bodies were found near their homes. The trial lasted only two hours, with an all-white jury. After just 10 minutes of deliberation, he was sentenced to death. His parents were threatened and barred from comforting him in court. They were later forced to flee their town.
George Stinney spent 81 days in prison before his execution. During that time, he was kept in solitary confinement about 50 miles from his home and was never allowed to see his family. He was executed with 5,380 volts of electricity.
Seventy years after his death, a South Carolina judge overturned his conviction, proving his innocence. The murder weapon—a beam weighing over 40 pounds—would have been impossible for Stinney to lift, let alone use to kill the girls. The case against him had been fabricated, and he was targeted solely because he was Black.
This case later inspired Stephen King’s novel The Green Mile. Some claim that people in the past were more humane, but this is false. Cruelty has always existed—the only difference is that now, it is more often exposed.
On September 11, 2001, terrorists attacked the United States in the deadliest act of terrorism in the country's history. Four passenger planes were hijacked by members of al-Qaeda, a terrorist group based in Afghanistan. Two planes crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, causing both skyscrapers to collapse. Another plane hit the Pentagon near Washington D.C., while the fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back against the hijackers. Nearly 3,000 people died in these attacks.
The attacks were planned by Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda. However, soon after the attacks, some U.S. government officials began suggesting Iraq was involved, even though there was no evidence connecting Iraq to 9/11. The Bush administration claimed Iraq's leader Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and ties to al-Qaeda. Both of these claims later turned out to be false.
In March 2003, the U.S. invaded Iraq based on these false claims. The war lasted eight years and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and over 4,000 American soldiers. No weapons of mass destruction were ever found in Iraq, and no connection between Iraq and the 9/11 attacks was ever proven.
Years later, official investigations confirmed the truth. The 9/11 Commission Report in 2004 found no evidence linking Iraq to the attacks. Many U.S. officials eventually admitted the claims about weapons of mass destruction were wrong. Just like in the case of George Stinney Jr., an innocent party was punished while the real culprits escaped justice.
Both stories show how dangerous it is when decisions are based on fear and prejudice rather than facts. George Stinney was executed because of racism, while Iraq was invaded because of false assumptions. In both cases, the truth came out too late to prevent terrible consequences. These events remind us how important it is to demand evidence and truth before making life-or-death decisions.