Posted on 03/01/2005 7:21:16 AM PST by Next_Time_NJ
The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the Constitution forbids the execution of killers who were under 18 when they committed their crimes, ending a practice used in 19 states.
The 5-4 decision throws out the death sentences of about 70 juvenile murderers and bars states from seeking to execute minors for future crimes.
The executions, the court said, were unconstitutionally cruel.
This report will be updated as details become available.
America has more liberal laws regarding abortion than all but 6 countires in the world. Of course the court has NEVER cited that in an opinion because it doesn't accrue with their view that killing them on the way out is perfectly OK. The court, and Justice Kennedy, in particular are hypocrites of the worst kind.
Like life in prison without the possibility of parole.
mediate=meditate
The Right mentioned just before liberty is Life. I disagree that a child forfeits their right to life when they murder someone.
O'Conner, Scalia, Thomas and Rehnquist were the dissenters.
Care to address my 246 to you?
who's constitution are they referring to?
Once again, the federal government steps in and tells the states how to run things...
15 year old is perfectly capeable of knowing that killing is wrong.
There is no actual evidence that the death penalty, any kind of death penalty, is a deterrent.
This isn't about a particular method of punishment.
Wherever did you get that silly idea?
Whats to stop them from killing guards?
Why should we pay for their free- health care when they get sick such needing HEART transplants?
Their is no such thing as life in prison anymore. Prisoners are always released later down the line when the state cannot afford to keep them.
No, but the Declaration is not the supreme law of the United States. That description belongs to the Constitution.
""It is proper that we acknowledge the overwhelming weight of international opinion"
Early in the original issue they said it was decided based on OUR CONSTITUTION???????
Yes, because you do not distinguish between innocent and guilty. That is a liberal trait.
I think that if you murder an innocent person depriving them of the right to life, then you have NO RIGHT to life for yourself!
Remember Willy Horton?
Just a few weeks ago, I watched the following trial on COURT TV:
From CNN:
"Wednesday, February 16, 2005 Posted: 4:23 AM EST (0923 GMT)
"CHARLESTON, South Carolina (CNN) -- A judge sentenced a 15-year-old boy Tuesday to 30 years in prison for killing his grandparents after jurors rejected defense arguments that taking the antidepressant Zoloft drove the youth to kill.
The jury convicted Chris Pittman earlier Tuesday on two counts of murder in the 2001 slayings of his paternal grandparents, Joe and Joy Pittman.
In closing arguments Monday, prosecutor John Meadors belittled the defense's contention that Zoloft influenced Pittman, then 12, to carry out the shootings, calling such an argument a "smoke screen."
"The only issue is -- did he know the difference between right and wrong?" Meadors said.
"Shooting them in bed with a [.410-gauge shotgun]," he said, "that's malice, meanness, wickedness."
In his closing argument, defense attorney Paul Waldner told jurors, "In this state, in this country, we do not convict children of murder when they've been ambushed by chemicals that have destroyed their ability to reason."
((And whether he'd been sentenced to death, or this 30 year sentence, he'll spend the rest of his life in jail appealing the verdict.))
SCOTUS is a joke. It is cruel and unusual do starve and dehydrate a woman with brain damage to death. The constituion would not allow that to happen to the worst serial killer but they REFUSE to hear Terri Schiavo's case in their august chambers.
SCOTUS does not have the power to decide for states who can be treated as an adult. That power resides with the states.
Well, it did once upon a time.
And to be perfectly consistent, it must be cruel and unusual to allow 17 year olds to get killed while defending their fat asses.
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