Wednesday, Mar 02, 2005
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WASHINGTON, MARCH 1. The verdict of the United States' Supreme Court forbidding the execution of killers who were under 18 when they committed their crimes, ends a practice that prevails 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. It was the second major defeat at the high court in three years for supporters of the death penalty. Justices in 2002 banned the execution of the mentally retarded, also citing the Constitution's Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishments. The court had already outlawed executions for those who were 15 and younger when they committed their crimes. Tuesday's ruling prevents states from making 16-and 17-year-olds eligible for execution. Justice Anthony Kennedy noted that most states do not allow the execution of juvenile killers, and those that do, use the penalty infrequently. The trend was to abolish the practice. ``Our society views juveniles ... as categorically less culpable than the average criminal,'' Mr. Justice Kennedy wrote. Juvenile offenders have been put to death in recent years in just a few other countries, including Iran, Pakistan, China and Saudi Arabia. Those countries have gone on record as opposing capital punishment for minors. — AP
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