[WCADP-list] Supreme Court Rules Execution of Minors is Unconstitutional

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In a 5-to-4 decision the Supreme Court ruled today that it is
unconstitutional to execute juveniles, ending a practice that has been
roundly condemned by the rest of the civilized world.  The executions, the
court said, violate the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual
punishment.
 
"The age of 18 is the point where society draws the line for many purposes
between childhood and adulthood.  It is, we conclude, the age at which the
line for death eligibility ought to rest," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote.
 
Washington State outlawed the practice of killing minors in 1993 (State v.
Furman).  The fact that Washington and other states had abandoned this
abhorrent practice led the justices to their decision today.  They held that
executing young killers violates "the evolving standards of decency that
mark the progress of a maturing society," and that American society has come
to regard juveniles as less culpable than adult criminals. 
 
The Justices wrote that, "When a juvenile commits a heinous crime, the state
can exact forfeiture of some of the most basic liberties," the majority held
today, "but the state cannot extinguish his life and his potential to attain
a mature understanding of his own humanity." 
 
While the vast majority of Americans believe that executing minors is wrong,
Dianne Clements, president of the Houston-based Justice for All victims'
advocacy group, criticized the decision and said she hopes that when there
is a Supreme Court vacancy a strong death penalty supporter is nominated.
"The Supreme Court has opened the door for more innocent people to suffer by
16 and 17 year olds," she said. "I can't wait for the Supreme Court to have
judges more concerned with American values, American statutes and American
law than what the Europeans think."
 
The decision in Roper v. Simmons in available at:
http://wid.ap.org/documents/scotus/050301roper.pdf 
 
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