The youngest known murderer was only three years old. Murderous children typically come from abusive or neglectful households. Unfortunately, it’s the children and their victims who must pay the price for the sometimes horrific state of their households, whether it’s in death or with a life sentence. Here are 20 of the world’s youngest murderers.

Jesse Pomeroy

Jesse Pomeroy, 14, murdered a 4-year-old boy in 1874 — making this his second murder. Besides his conviction of the two murders, Pomeroy already had a bad rap for his arrest and conviction of sexually torturing/molesting several children. He was sentenced to 40 years in solitary confinement. Yeah, that’ll help.