The Death Penalty

After his trial, Steve Truscott spent four months on death row, always worried he would die by the noose before his 15th birthday.

"At night time you lie there and cry," he admits today. "But it doesn't really accomplish that much. So after a while you even stop doing that. You kind of harden yourself up for what's to come."

In 1959, Canada still had the death penalty - even for young people. Between 1920 and 1960, Canada executed twenty-one people under the age of 20.

On January 22 at 12:23 p.m., a telegram from the deputy minister of justice arrived at the Goderich jail. The nineteen words brought both salvation and doom: Steve would not die. But unless he got parole, the boy would spend the rest of his natural life behind bars.

Here is a copy of that telegram (Click here to view it:):

Chapter 32, "Ghosts of the Gallows" explores Steven Trsucott's days on death row. Chapter 35, "A National Debate" looks at how the Truscott case influenced Canada's decision to abolish the death penalty. For more on these themes, read "Until you are Dead".