This case is only the most recent example of the national debate over whether to treat young defendants as children or adults.

In fact, about two-thirds of all the young defendants here end up pleading guilty, she said.

And one young defendant described a deal that went even further.

In fact, all but the youngest defendant were sentenced to death.

The evidence was intended to link six young defendants to the rape.

He tricks the mother of a young defendant into giving him the bail money for her son.

Defense lawyers say those pressures are particularly intense for defendants young enough to feel they have not really lived at all.

At times, the young defendants had trouble understanding the judge's questions and asked him to repeat them.

The two accused were the youngest defendants in state history to be tried as adults.

That is a common way for young defendants to win.