AmFOR Disclaimer
Date Last Updated: April 21, 2008
© 2001, 2002 and forward by Lori Carangelo.
All Rights Reserved
PO Box 401, Palm Desert, CA 92261 USA
The Supreme Court abolished capital punishment for juvenile offenders yesterday [3-1-05], ruling 5 to 4 that it is unconstitutional to sentence anyone to death for a crime he or she committed while younger than 18.
In concluding that the death penalty for minors is cruel and unusual punishment, the court cited a "national consensus" against the practice, along with medical and social-science evidence that teenagers are too immature to be held accountable for their crimes to the same extent as adults.
Christopher Simmons, age 17 when he kidnapped and killed a woman, was spared along with 72 others. (AP)
Breakdown of the 72 people on death rows who were
juveniles when they committed their crimes:
Texas: 29
Alabama: 14
Mississippi: 5
Ariz., La., N.C.: 4 each
Fla., S.C.: 3 each
Ga., Pa.: 2 each
Nev., Va.: 1
Source: The Associated Press
The court said its judgment, which overturned a 1989 ruling that had upheld the death penalty for 16- and 17-year-old offenders, was also influenced by a desire to end the United States' international isolation on the issue.
..."From a moral standpoint, it would be misguided to equate the failings of a minor with those of an adult, for a greater possibility exists that a minor's character deficiencies will be reformed," Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote in the opinion for the court.
"Our determination," Kennedy added, "finds confirmation in the stark reality that the United States is the only country in the world that continues to give official sanction to the juvenile death penalty."
...There have been 22 executions of juveniles since 1976, 13 of them in Texas.
Date Last Updated: April 21, 2008
© 2001, 2002 and forward by Lori Carangelo.
All Rights Reserved
PO Box 401, Palm Desert, CA 92261 USA