"the Constitution forbids the execution of killers who were under 18 when they committed their crimes"
Must be that darn Penumbra again.
Qwinn
Are you sure it wasn't a Penumbric EmanationTM?
This just in...
The Killers victims are still DEAD!
The emanated in the penumbra....again.
Where? Distinctions regarding minors are not in my copy.
In fact, a reading of the 14th Amendment would equate minors to adults as "citizens" with a right to equal protection under the law. Equal protection might then also imply equal responsibility.
Well, then, I guess we'd better pass a law against people under 18 killing anybody.
< /blistering sarcasm >
Dan
Right. The Supreme Court does NOT get to decide whether executing people who committed crimes before they turned 18 is "a good idea" or not.
They get to decide whether or not it's constitutional or not.
Even those who agree that such persons should not be executed should be disturbed that the Court took it upon themselves to make this decision.
An amazing interpretation, realy, considering that when the Constitution was written, sixteen year-olds were working their own farms and raising their children.
The eighteen year old bit didn't really get going until the unions and child labor laws came into being.
Exactly WHERE does the Constitution say this? It's not in my copy.