Articles

National Law Journal April 26, 2004 Editorial By Vivian Berger Special to The National Law Journal; Vivian Berger, an NLJ columnist, is a professor emerita at Columbia Law School. Virtually alone among nations, the United States puts to death juvenile killers-youths who were less than 18 years old at the time of their crimes, putting us in the dubious international company of Iran and the Congo. The U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari for next term to Roper v. Simmons, allowing the…

St. Petersburg Times April 25, 2004 Editorial When the Florida Legislature proposed a constitutional amendment to protect the death penalty, the measure had the incidental effect of allowing people to be executed for crimes they committed at the age of 16. Sponsors said they didn’t want to do that and promised corrective legislation. That was three years ago. Voters ratified the constitutional amendment a year later. The bill that was promised has yet to pass. Missouri’s attorney general…

Decatur Daily April 23, 2004 Editorial Fledgling Attorney General Troy King has picked an interesting first major stance since being appointed to office by Gov. Bob Riley. It’s a safe one. He’s going to fight bills that would put a moratorium on the death penalty. Politically, standing up against those who oppose the death penalty is a popular fight in Alabama, where even losing the fight could be a winning situation. Mr. King already knows he has legislative support to fight these bills…

Lakeland Ledger April 22, 2004 Editorial The Florida Legislature has always been strong on capital punishment and has recoiled against any limitations imposed by the courts. At the same time, it has failed to clarify a key question relating to the death penalty: How young is too young when sentencing a killer to death? Oddly, the Legislature has avoided that question. The result has been that the courts have been forced to step in. As it stands now, a person cannot be sentenced to death if…

Concorde (NH) Monitor April 22, 2004 Editorial A civilized society does not kill children, not even children who’ve killed. According to Amnesty International, the United States has executed more juveniles over the past decade than all other nations combined. Of the 22 American children executed for their crimes since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, 13 were put to death in Texas. Virginia (three), Oklahoma (two) and Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina, Missouri (one each) accounted…

Palm Beach Post April 21, 2004 Editorial A small shaft of enlightenment has cut into the dark thinking in Florida about capital punishment. 2 committees in Tallahassee have approved legislation that would ban the death penalty for people who are under 18 years of age when they commit a capital crime. Last week, the proposal cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee 7 – 0 and the House Public Safety Committee 17 – 1. As with almost all other matters that relate to the death penalty, Florida is…

Tampa (FL) Tribune April 15, 2004 Editorial By JEFFREY P. BROSCO Floridians should be proud that our Legislature has taken a lead role in the nationwide juvenile death penalty debate. Until recently, our political leaders were on track in calling for the minimum age for execution to be 18; now this wise decision risks being derailed by a few who proposed an amendment lowering the age to 17. While a one-year difference may seem arbitrary and inconsequential, every year counts for children…

Tampa Tribune April 15, 2004 Editorial A bill moving through the state Senate would outlaw the execution of killers who are younger than 18 when they commit murder. Sen. Victor Crist, R‑Tampa, says he sponsored the bill because it will preserve Florida’s capital punishment law if the U.S. Supreme Court decides the death penalty can be imposed only on adults. Florida law today allows the death penalty for 17-year-old killers, but the nation’s high court will soon decide whether executing…

Portsmouth (NH) Herald April 14, 2004 Editorial “In no event shall any person under the age of 18 years at the time the offense was committed be culpable of a capital murder.” This is the entire text of Senate Bill 513. It is the simplest of statements, but if passed by the New Hampshire House it will have the most profound of effects. This state remains one of only 19 that permits the execution of juveniles. While no juvenile has ever been put to death in this state — and, in fact, there…

Shreveport (LA) Times April 13, 2004 Editorial The U.S. Supreme Court in October will take up the issue of capital punishment for those who committed crimes while juveniles. But the Louisiana Legislature need not wait on the justices to ban such executions. Louisiana is in the minority when it comes to the death penalty for those under the age of 18, and the numbers are shrinking. Thirty-two states already ban the death penalty for juveniles; 43 have never used it for young offenders…