The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, CA)

July 21, 2004

Editorial

Fact: The United States is just one of five coun­tries in the world that allows the exe­cu­tion of juve­niles. Opinion: This nation has many rea­sons to be proud. But this is not one of them.

Solution: Two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court invoked the con­cept of ​“evolv­ing stan­dards of decen­cy” and used that to abol­ish cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment for men­tal­ly retard­ed crim­i­nals. That same stan­dard should be expand­ed to include the exe­cu­tion of peo­ple for crimes they com­mit­ted before they turned 18.

This fall, the Supreme Court will have an oppor­tu­ni­ty to make such a rul­ing when it hears the case of Christopher Simmons who was sen­tenced to die for mur­der­ing a Missouri woman when he was 17.

The high court has already ruled that the exe­cu­tion of those 15 and younger is uncon­sti­tu­tion­al. But the court needs a high­er stan­dard.

Conclusion: The killing of chil­dren is too impor­tant a judg­ment to be left to the dis­cre­tion of judges and juries on a case-by-case basis. The nation needs to draw a line on how far it is will­ing to go with cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. That line should be drawn at 18.

Sources

The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, CA)