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.
Bad decision. Very bad. This is not something the Constitution spells out clearly, so these judicial potentates simply decided to do make it up themselves instead of leaving it up to the people through their duly elected representatives.
This is full-throated "judicial activism" on lavish display. Where is this "conservative" Court we hear so much whining about nowadays?
It's a tremendous deterrent to future murders. The recidivism rate for executed offenders is ,,,,,,,zero.
A 16 year old who murders is acting like an adult and is a threat to society thats why.
And for the record 18 year olds can be forced to serve in the military and cant drink alcohol so what is just based on your logic is red herring.
"Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of G-d has G-d made man."
Gen 9:6
In Hebrew, there are nine different words that mean "to cause the death of another." The word that is used in the sixth Commandment means specifically to murder an innocent human being.
Exodus 20
13 "You shall not murder.
Webster's Dictionary defines murder as "the act of unlawfully killing a human being with premeditated malice." This doesn't prohibit all forms of killing people. There are three ways of killing human beings that are not forbidden by this commandment from God.
God's Word actually protects three ways of killing as being legitimate under certain circumstances.
The first legitimate way of killing a person is legal capital punishment for gross and heinous crimes committed against other people. In Genesis 9:6, God said to Noah, "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man." Immediately after Noah’s Flood, God authorized people to establish governments that would bring order and justice to society. Part of the authority given to a government is to execute its worse criminals with the death penalty.
Whether we like it or not, the Bible allows for the death penalty for certain crimes. Leviticus 24:17 says, "If anyone takes the life of a human being, he must be put to death."
God authorizes governments to use the death penalty on hard-core criminals. Numbers 35:16-21 affirms it. The Bible says the execution of a quick penalty serves as a deterrent to crime (Deuteronomy 13:11; Ecclesiastes 8:11). This same principle carries into the New Testament. In Romans 13:4, Paul says a policeman "is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer."
Paul said in Acts 25:11, "If I am guilty of doing anything deserving of death, I do not refuse to die." This shows that Paul believed in the legitimacy of capital punishment.
The second legitimate way of killing is that of a just war. The question is, what constitutes a just war? Does it mean beating Hitler and squashing the Nazis, at the cost of 30 million dead in Europe?
Proverb 20:18 says, "if you wage war, obtain guidance." Proverb 24:6 adds, "for waging war you need guidance, and for victory many advisors." Clearly, God considers some wars to be just.
The bottom line is, when a soldier shoots another soldier on the battlefield or fires off a bomb with the benevolent goal of defending the lives of innocent people from a tyrant, it is not the same as murder, and it does not violate commandment six.
The third legitimate way of killing is that of self-defense. Exodus 22:2 says, "If a thief is caught breaking in and is struck so that he dies, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed.
All I can say is, holy crap and what the hell were they thinking?????
bump
"Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man."
Genesis 9:6
Kennedy, Souter, Breyer, Stevens, Ginsburg: bastards all.
As i wrote before it is NOT a detterent AT ALL. I will explain again.
Once that penality is handed down you have years and years before you will killed. They clog our court systems with BS and drive up costs for the taxpayers.
You want it to be a true deterrent? Death the next day high noon...
If your old enough to pre-mediatately kill a person, your old enough to be executed!
In the court's majority opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy agreed and declared the U.S. Constitution forbids the imposition of the death penalty against offenders who were under the age of 18 when their crimes were committed.
"It is proper that we acknowledge the overwhelming weight of international opinion against the juvenile death penalty, resting in large part on the understanding that the instability and emotional imbalance of young people may often be a factor in the crime," he wrote in the 25-page opinion.
You are truly pro-death. You do not value life.
I on the other hand value life. I even value your life even though you do not value mine.
Yeah like counciling Im sure a good talk therapy session will help make this misunderstood monsters FEEL better.
After all their the real victims not the people kill,rape, and maim.
Where does the Constitution grant them that authority?
This is a moral judgement made by you, not God. God has made his law well known, "Thou Shall Not Murder". I happen to agree with your statement and I most definitely agree with God. But that doesn't chnage the FACT that this power resides at the state level.
Sorry, incorrect. Elected officials don't decide what is moral. That is reserved for God.
Patently false. God is source of absolute truth. But men legislate morality. It is what legislators do. All law has a moral component and men and women are elected to legislate same. Not all men and women believ in God. Those officials are responsible to their citizenry and held responsible at the polling booth. Justice Kennedy and the Mousketeers answer to nobody which is why they do what they want when they want.
It has never happened-directly. But the Constitiution does not require a justice to be a lawyer. In fact, many Presidents nominated politicians (former lawyers) holding elected office rather than judges since they were more "in-tune" with the wishes of the public. These politicians were lawyers at one time or another, but they were chosen for their non-active legal status.
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