George Stinney Exonerated 70 Years After Execution at Age 14

A South Carolina judge exonerated George Stinney Jr., a 14-year-old Black boy executed in 1944 — the youngest person executed in the U.S. in the 20th century. The judge found Stinney had not received a fair trial: he had no meaningful legal representation, his confession was coerced without parents present, and the all-white jury deliberated for 10 minutes. The case became a touchstone for discussions of wrongful convictions and racial terror masquerading as law.