Doing Crime Without Time

Campus Report ^ | August 28, 2009 | Anthony Kang

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Doing Crime Without Time

by: Anthony Kang, August 28, 2009

The rule of law is imperative in order for any nation and society to function, prosper, and survive. In regards to the law and order most appropriate and just for juvenile offenders under the age of 18, decisions about sentencing are delegated to the juvenile court systems for judgment and rehabilitation.

Therefore, the 2005 Roper v. Simmons decision was highly scrutinized, as the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision banned capital punishment’s applicability against defendants who were held on trial for crimes they had originally committed under the age of 18.

Special-interest activist groups, including the ACLU, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and NAACP—have lobbied for a legislation to extend the court’s decision, and ban the possibility of life-without-parole (LWOP) sentences for juvenile offenders. Opposition to the legislation mainly consists of local groups representing victims, prosecutors, and police.

Charles D. Stimson, Senior Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, and leading expert in criminal law, military law, military commissions and detention policy, and Andrew. M. Grossman, Senior Legal Policy Analyst at Heritage, have published a comprehensive landmark report entitled Adult Time for Adult Crimes which addresses the issue of juvenile crime, and thoroughly undermines the premise of the aforementioned activists.

The Roper v. Simmons decision is largely attributable to the Court’s application of the 8th and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, and has become the foundation for activists’ call to change the federal law recognized by 43 states and the District of Columbia which set the maximum punishment for juveniles at life without the possibility of parole.....