Posted on 03/01/2005 7:32:36 AM PST by So Cal Rocket
WASHINGTON - 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.
It was the second major defeat at the high court in three years for supporters of the death penalty. Justices in 2002 banned the execution of the mentally retarded, also citing the Constitution's Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishments.
The court had already outlawed executions for those who were 15 and younger when they committed their crimes.
Tuesday's ruling prevents states from making 16- and 17-year-olds eligible for execution.
Justice Anthony Kennedy (news - web sites), writing for the majority, noted that most states don't allow the execution of juvenile killers and those that do use the penalty infrequently. The trend, he noted, was to abolish the practice.
"Our society views juveniles ... as categorically less culpable than the average criminal," Kennedy wrote.
Juvenile offenders have been put to death in recent years in just a few other countries, including Iran (news - web sites), Pakistan, China and Saudi Arabia. All those countries have gone on record as opposing capital punishment for minors.
The Supreme Court has permitted states to impose capital punishment since 1976 and more than 3,400 inmates await execution in the 38 states that allow death sentences.
Justices were called on to draw an age line in death cases after Missouri's highest court overturned the death sentence given to a 17-year-old Christopher Simmons, who kidnapped a neighbor in Missouri, hog-tied her and threw her off a bridge. Prosecutors say he planned the burglary and killing of Shirley Crook in 1993 and bragged that he could get away with it because of his age.
The four most liberal justices had already gone on record in 2002, calling it "shameful" to execute juvenile killers. Those four, joined by Kennedy, also agreed with Tuesday's decision: Justices John Paul Stevens (news - web sites), David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg (news - web sites) and Stephen Breyer (news - web sites).
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia (news - web sites) and Clarence Thomas (news - web sites), as expected, voted to uphold the executions. They were joined by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (news - web sites).
Currently, 19 states allow executions for people under age 18: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Texas and Virginia.
In a dissent, Scalia decried the decision, arguing that there has been no clear trend of declining juvenile executions to justify a growing consensus against the practice.
"The court says in so many words that what our people's laws say about the issue does not, in the last analysis, matter: 'In the end our own judgment will be brought to bear on the question of the acceptability of the death penalty,' he wrote in a 24-page dissent.
"The court thus proclaims itself sole arbiter of our nation's moral standards," Scalia wrote.
Yes. If you're old enough to murder, you're old enough to be hanged.
Drew Garrett
I am not saying let them off, I am saying don't execute them.
Age 18 is a line. Where would you draw the line? If it could be determined that a 5 year old committed premeditated murder, would you want that 5 year old executed?
In Romans, Paul states that God institutes government to protect its citizens and administer justice. The ultimate punishment, eternal judgment will be administered by God, but He also gave us the ability and the responsibility to administer justice through our governments.
If this were the 'law' back when the Constitution was written, they would not be executing murderers who were reaching middle age. After all, the average lifespan back then was what, 35 years?
Teens should not necessarily be considered "children". The law protects them from certain responsibilities and prohibits them from certain activities based on their immaturity. However, when they deliberately become criminals, they bring on themselves the consequences for their criminal actions.
I see your point, but unfortunately, it's the minority opinion in either party. A friend of mine wrote an article about this for our college paper. Someone with a personal vindetta against him posted the article on Freerepublic along with his E-mail address. He received lots of nasty flames and even a few threats.
It does not make sense to me.
When Rehnquist steps down it will not change the composition of the Court unless Bush replaces him with a liberal (which is always possible -- Bush Sr. gave us Souter). The only way to turn the Court to the right would be for Bush to replace Kennedy, Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg or Breyer. I don't see any of those five stepping down during the next 4 years.
JP Stevens turns 85 next month.
Only a handful of countries have executed minors since 1990, and two of them - Pakistan and Yemen - have since put an end to the practice. The ones I listed are the only ones left.
Do a web search on - "death penalty" minors - for documentation, it's a major human rights sticking point for the perennial critics of the US.
I'm not talking about Europe, I'm talking about the entire world except for those countries.
What the court actually ruled:
If you want somebody murdered, hire a minor. We'll make sure they don't get the needle.
For some. But I'm not about to assume it works for all.
Produce an innocent that has been executed in the last 50 years and we can talk about changing the system, provided that you can show the system at fault and not one bad actor sabotaging it.
I'm not aware of a concerted effort by anyone to dig up the dead to obtain DNA samples to see if innocent people were wrongfully executed. That doesn't mean that hasn't happened.
He gets off with a prison sentence from which escape, parole, a liberal judge, are all possibilities for an unfettered life. The victim will always be dead.
Escape from a maximum security prison in this day and age is extremely rare. It does happen, but not very often. The same state legislatures that can muster enough votes to pass a death penalty ought to be able find enough votes to pass life without parole. Even with the death penalty, liberal judges have plenty of oppurtunities to turn killers loose between conviction and execution.
I'm sorry you feel that way, but I'm not a liberal by any stretch of the definition. I do have a moral problem with killing people except in self-defense and during military operations. I respect your position. Please respect mine.
Read my Post No. 56. I don't have a problem killing anyone in warfare, as long as the killing takes place on the battlefield (where ever that might be) for a greater good. I do have a problem killing prisoners of war or enemy combatants once they are in custody.
So let me get this strait: You have no evidence whatsoever that your opinion is valid, but we should completely overhaul our criminal justice system anyway?
That doesn't mean that hasn't happened.
LOL. If you could dig up one innocent corpse you'd have a parade through the middle of Manhattan with it.
It does happen, but not very often.
Real actual, productive members of society who are dead now proves that it is more real than your mythical innocent man executed.
The same state legislatures that can muster enough votes to pass a death penalty ought to be able find enough votes to pass life without parole.
When you provide some evidence that the state is incapable of executing the guilty without executing the innocent, people will be with you. Until then, you are demanding a majority of the people to cater to your self-righteousness against their own self-interest and safety.
Even with the death penalty, liberal judges have plenty of oppurtunities to turn killers loose between conviction and execution.
Yes, but not one has ever released a killer after his execution.
I share your beliefs.
There are people out their who are monsters and should not be breathing.
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