Articles

University Wire (University of Florida) October 14, 2004 Editorial The Supreme Court has filled its docket with thorny issues during the closing stages of an election in which the court’s future is an important campaign issue. The court heard arguments Wednesday as to whether a 2003 Missouri Supreme Court ruling that decided executing a juvenile offender who committed murder at age 17 would violate the Eighth Amendment, which bans cruel and unusual punishment. The list of nations that…

Battleboro (Vermont) Reformer October 13, 2004 One night in 1993, Shirley Crook was awakened by 2 burglars in her Missouri home. She was bound with duct tape. She was dragged out of the house. And, still alive and conscious, she was tossed from a railroad trestle into a river where she died. Anglers found her body and within 2 days Christopher Simmons confessed to committing the crimes with a friend. A jury later convicted him of murder and a judge sentenced him to death. The law didn’t…

The Republican (Springfield, MA) October 11, 2004 Editorial One day, we hope, the United States Supreme Court will rule that the death penalty is unconstitutional. In the meantime, the nation’s highest court can take a step toward that end by ruling it unconstitutional to execute a juvenile. On Oct. 13, the court will hear arguments in Roper vs. Simmons, a challenge to the constitutionality of the death penalty for persons who committed crimes when they were 16 or 17 years old. The United…

The Virginian-Pilot October 7, 2004 Editorial True to Virginia’s roots, the state political establishment will cast its lot with the executioners when the U. S. Supreme Court takes up the juvenile death penalty on Oct. 13. Attorney General Jerry Kilgore has joined his counterparts in Alabama, Delaware, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah in signing a legal brief supporting retention of the ultimate penalty for youths whose crimes were committed at ages 16 or 17. Unfortunately, that’s par for the…

The Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee, WI) October 5, 2004 Editorial In its term that began this week, the nation’s top court gets chances to make America fairer by outlawing the death penalty for crimes committed by 16- and 17-year-olds, amending federal sentencing practices that yield overly long prison stays, and barring the inspection of stopped cars by drug-sniffing dogs without reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. Meanwhile, court watchers would not be surprised if this term made big news in…

American Medical News September 27, 2004 Editorial As the Supreme Court hears arguments on using the death penalty against minors, the AMA joins the voices of science and international leaders against it. No one seriously questions the rules that prevent a 16- or 17-year-old from buying alcohol or tobacco. Similar strictures prevent these young people from volunteering for active duty in the armed forces or even voting. The reason for these limits is clear. It’s a recognition that…

The Pantagraph (IL) August 9, 2004 Editorial Changing U.S. attitudes toward the death penalty are reflected in a case under consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices have the opportunity to decide whether it is unconstitutional to execute people who were under age 18 when they committed their crimes. Actually, the court ruled on that issue 15 years ago in Sanford v. Kentucky, when it allowed the practice for 16- and 17-year-olds. A year earlier, it had ruled against execution of…

The Tennessean August 2, 2004 Editorial Executing teenagers is just as wrong as executing the mentally challenged. Dozens of foreign countries, a former president of the United States and a former president of the Soviet Union along with the American Bar Association and the American Medical Association all have said so. Now, it’s time for the U.S. Supreme Court to agree. The court will decide this fall whether to uphold a Missouri Supreme Court decision that set aside the execution of a…

The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, SC) July 31, 2004 Editorial Executing people for crimes they committed as 16- and 17-year-olds violates widely accepted human rights norms. The Supreme Court has the chance this fall to step in to affirm that teenage criminals ought not be sentenced to death because they are not old enough to be fully responsible for their judgment and their actions. The juvenile death penalty, in place in 19 states and actively used in seven, qualifies as “cruel and unusual…

Friday, July 30, 2004: VOL 305 30 JULY 2004 599 CREDIT: CORBIS By Mary Beckman www.sciencemag.org Crime, Culpability and the Adolescent Brain This fall, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether capital crimes by teenagers under 18 should get the death sentence; the case for leniency is based in part on brain studies. When he was 17 years old, Christopher Simmons persuaded a younger friend to help him rob a woman, tie her up with electrical cable and duct tape, and throw her over a…