James Arcene

{{Infobox criminal

| name = James Arcene

| image_name =

| image_size =

| image_caption =

| birth_date = c. 1862

| birth_place = United States

| death_date = June 18, 1885 (aged 23)

| death_cause = Execution by hanging

| death_place = Fort Smith, Arkansas, U.S.

| conviction = Robbery and murder (1872)

| conviction_penalty = Death

| conviction_status = Executed

| escaped = 1872–1885

}}

James Arcene (c. 1862 – June 18, 1885) was the youngest person sentenced to death, who was subsequently executed for the crime,Streib, Victor L. [https://books.google.com/books?id=3mdHAAAAMAAJ Death Penalty for Juveniles.] Indiana University Press, 1987. p. 72. in the United States. Arcene, a Cherokee, was hanged by the U.S. federal government in Fort Smith, Arkansas, for his role in a robbery and murder committed thirteen years earlier, when he was 10 years old.Scott, Charles L., MD. [http://www.jaapl.org/cgi/content/full/33/4/547 "Roper v. Simmons: Can Juvenile Offenders be Executed?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928174305/http://www.jaapl.org/cgi/content/full/33/4/547 |date=2011-09-28 }} Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. 33:4:547-552 (2005).

Arcene and a Cherokee man named William Parchmeal noticed William Feigel, a Swedish national, making a purchase in a store. They followed Feigel when he left, heading for Fort Gibson, and caught up with him about two miles outside of the fort. With robbery as a motive, one of the two shot Feigel six times before crushing his skull with a rock. Arcene and Parchmeal then took a pair of boots and some money off of Feigel's corpse.

Arcene was arrested, tried by jury, and convicted for the robbery and murder of Feigel. He then escaped and eluded capture until he was apprehended and executed at the age of 23. He and Parchmeal were caught by Deputy Marshal Andrews after the case had been cold for more than ten years. "Hanging Judge" Isaac C. Parker presided over the executions, which were held at Fort Smith.

It is difficult to verify James Arcene's age with complete certainty because there are few surviving census records for Indian Territory in the 1870s and 1880s. Primary documents confirm that, after he was captured, James Arcene claimed to have been a child in 1872 when the crime was committed. He did not revise that statement when it became clear that that status would not help him in sentencing.New York Times [www.nytimes.com], "Hanged on the Gallows". The New York Times. June 27, 1885. Accessed June 29, 2011.

Arcene's case is frequently brought up in discussions of the death penalty for children, and to a lesser degree in discussions of the unfair treatment Native Americans received from the United States government.[http://www.amnestyusa.org/askamnesty/dp200311_4.html "Questions on the Death Penalty."] Amnesty International USA has alleged that the jury's decision to execute Arcene for a crime committed at such a young age was racially motivated. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121022304/http://www.amnestyusa.org/askamnesty/dp200311_4.html |date=2008-11-21 }} Ask Amnesty. AmnestyUSA.org. November 4, 2003.James, Joy. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Tn_BF2ggwAUC States of Confinement: Policing, Detention and Prisons.] Macmillan, 2000. {{ISBN|0-312-21777-3}}. p. 23.