Supreme Court strikes down death penalty for juveniles
By Joan Biskupic, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that convicted murderers who were younger than 18 at the time of their crimes cannot be executed, in part because there is a "national consensus" among the states that such executions are wrong.
By a 5-4 vote, the justices said the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment bans the execution of juvenile offenders. The decision, announced by Justice Anthony Kennedy during a dramatic court session that revealed the tension among the justices over the issue, invalidates laws in 20 states. It lifts the death sentences from about 71 juvenile offenders nationwide; they probably will get life in prison.
The decision comes three years after the court banned executions of mentally retarded inmates. The rulings reflect the prevailing view of today's court that capital punishment should be reserved for the nation's "worst offenders" and that the mentally retarded and juveniles cannot reliably be classified that way. Kennedy, writing for the majority, said juvenile criminals lack maturity and are particularly susceptible to peer pressure. "The age of 18 is the point where society draws the line for many purposes between childhood and adulthood. It is ... the age at which the line for death eligibility ought to rest."
Tuesday's ruling also reverses a stand the court took in 1989, when it allowed executions of killers who committed their crimes at age 16 or 17. Kennedy noted that of the 38 states that have the death penalty, 18 exempt juvenile offenders from executions. When the court last ruled on the issue in 1989, 13 states had such exemptions. During the past decade, three states (Texas, Oklahoma and Virginia) have carried out the sentence for juvenile crimes.
The case decided Tuesday involved a Missouri man, Christopher Simmons, who was 17 when he abducted a woman from her home, bound and gagged her, and threw her into a river to drown.
Kennedy noted that "the stark reality is that the United States is the only country in the world" that officially allowed the juvenile death penalty.
Kennedy's opinion drew an angry response from Justice Antonin Scalia. "The basic premise — that American law should conform to the laws of the rest of the world — ought to be rejected out of hand," Scalia said.
Officials in states that have juvenile offenders on death row said they were reviewing the opinion. Alabama Attorney General Troy King, whose office had urged the justices to retain the juvenile death penalty, said he was disappointed "on behalf of victims."
Kennedy, who usually votes with the court's five-member conservative wing, became the key vote in the case by siding with liberals John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. Dissenting were Scalia, Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Sandra Day O'Connor and Clarence Thomas.
As a result, officials in Prince William County, Va., said Tuesday they will not prosecute a murder case there against teen sniper Lee Boyd Malvo, who is already serving life in prison in two of the 10 sniper killings that terrorized the Washington area in 2002. Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert had hoped to get the death penalty for Malvo, who was 17 at the time of the killings, but said another trial would now be an unnecessary expense.
The case is Roper vs Simmons, 03-633.
Contributing: The Associated Press
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washing...M_Exclude=Juno
Juveniles on death rows
The state breakdown of the 72 people on death rows who were juveniles when they committed their crimes, according to the Death Penalty Information Center:
Texas: 29.
Alabama: 14.
Mississippi: 5.
Arizona, Louisiana, North Carolina: 4 each.
Florida, South Carolina: 3 each.
Georgia, Pennsylvania: 2 each.
Nevada, Virginia: 1.
Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Utah allow the execution of juveniles but do not have any on their death rows.