High court strikes down death penalty for juveniles

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Mrs. Tuberski
I wonder if all would feel the same way if the say 15 yo killed a member of their family.

Or if their own 15 year old killed a member of another family.

[BeBMan]

Originally posted by OzzyKP


Everything is going according to plan.

I'm just wondering why Che is dancing, I thought he was older

[Whaleboy]

A step in the right direction, though it's not enough. The closer America comes into line with civilised Western societies, the better... hopefully they'll stop executing people full stop.

[GePap]

Good.

As much as I generally disagree with Ozzy and his adult crusade, but having established a line between adult and child, it makes little sense to violate it at will in criminal cases, yet deny that if these kids are adult enough to die, they are not adult enough to watch an R rated movie, or smoke, or drink, or have sex with whomever they want.

Its unacceptable hypocrasy.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Whaleboy
A step in the right direction, though it's not enough. The closer America comes into line with civilised Western societies, the better... hopefully they'll stop executing people full stop.

Would you be saying that if the word 'juveniles' were replaced by 'chavs' in the thread title.

[Spiffor]

Whaleboy: @ sig

It's even more priceless with his current avatar

[DinoDoc]

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.

Wonder if he now realizes that's an assanine standard to use and is basically a power grab on the part of the Court from the people's representatives? Probably not.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Shouldn't it be US Supreme Court... seeing as how MarkG started the thread?

Anyway, I'm with GePap. If we say that 18 is the dividing line, we shouldn't just violate it whenever we feel like. It gives more creedence to nuts like Ozzy .

Though, of course, if they are over 18, fry 'em good

[Mr. Harley]

One of the reasons this has been advocated is because it has been shown the juveniles are materially less able to help in their defense (this also obviously applies to the mentally retarded). In interviews with both defense and prosecuting attornies, NPR did a special and both groups often agreed that many juveniles would flip-flop radically on plea agreements and testimony based on their mood for the day.

Essentially many juveniles (not all) are not materially able to help in their defense. This essentially means that they are not responsible, in the sense of an adult. Besides the process issues, which I have expounded on in probably numbing length in the past, I am very mixed about this. I subscribe to the "Prevention of harm" theory of incarceration, and is a rabid little animal, like that boy in Missouri, get's lose in the future, he may very well kill again. The fact he bragged about how he could not be executed shows there is some deterrent effect, at least in isolated cases.

If we could fix the US justice system, I might support the execution of minors for henious crimes. Since I do not believe that is possible, given that there is not a sufficiently large constituency for it, I will take the best I can get. Sadly, that is this decision.

[Mrs. Tuberski]

One would think that the crime it self and circumstances surrounding it would be the deciding factor on whether the death penalty should apply. Not the age of the person commiting the crime. i.e For some odd reason we all would like to believe that all 10 yo boys are just into playing with their friends and stuff but i fact there are some 10 yo boys that are particpating in gang related shootings etc. Therefore the death penalty should be applied as needed.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Mrs. Tuberski
One would think that the crime it self and circumstances surrounding it would be the deciding factor on whether the death penalty should apply. Not the age of the person commiting the crime. i.e For some odd reason we all would like to believe that all 10 yo boys are just into playing with their friends and stuff but i fact there are some 10 yo boys that are particpating in gang related shootings etc. Therefore the death penalty should be applied as needed.

Not if they don't have full mental capacity. Remember to prove murder, you don't merely have to prove the act, but also the guilty mind. That's the reason we don't execute retarded people anymore. Their lack of total mental capacity means the guilty mind prong is found wanting.

Also it would seem obvious that if you are old enough to be executed, you should be old enough to enjoy the other privileges of adulthood.

[DinoDoc]

Except that's not the standard they used to strike down the execution of the little angel. They hung their hat of a meaninglessly subjective standard with little Constitutional support they pulled out of their own arse that means whatever they say it does.

[Imran Siddiqui]

What, you mean cruel and unusual punishment?

[Mrs. Tuberski]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui



Also it would seem obvious that if you are old enough to be executed, you should be old enough to enjoy the other privileges of adulthood.

Would that mean that those kids that have already watched r rated movies and drank alcohol and ran around doing what they want to do and killed somebody get the same treatment as those kids who say have done none of the above and killed?

[Wycoff]

I agree with Sava