Canada abolished the death penalty in 1976, and one of the cases that inspired the decision was that of Steven Truscott. He was 14 years old in 1959 when he gave a 12-year-old Lynne Harper, a classmate in Clinton, Ontario, a ride on his bicycle. Two days later, Harper was found raped and strangled in some nearby woods. Because Truscott was the last person known to see her alive, police zeroed in on him as a suspect almost immediately even though there were no witnesses and no physical evidence linking him to the crime. He was arrested within two days of the body’s discovery, and the subsequent trial lasted only two weeks.
Truscott was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging, making him Canada’s youngest death row inmate ever. People all over the world were outraged that a child would be sent to his death. Canadian prime minister John Diefenbaker said he had no intention of allowing the boy to be executed. Weeks before Truscott was scheduled to die, he received a stay of execution. Then his sentence was commuted to life. Finally, in 1969, Truscott was paroled. He changed his name and quietly reassured himself into regular life. The conviction remained on Truscott’s record until 2007, when Ontario’s court of appeals reviewed the case, decided the original trial had been unfair and acquitted him of Lyne Harper’s murder. The next year, Ontario awarded Truscott $6.5 million in damages. Finally, a victory of sorts – Truscott called the ruling “bittersweet.” Lynne Harper’s murder has never been solved.
