The exe­cu­tion of juve­niles has no place in a civilized world

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 has­n’t been a state-ordered exe­cu­tion since 1939 — it is chill­ing to think that a young­ster could be con­vict­ed of a cap­i­tal crime in New Hampshire, or any­where else in the coun­try, for that mat­ter, and sen­tenced to death.

A leg­isla­tive attempt to abol­ish the death penal­ty for both adults and chil­dren passed the House and Senate in 2000, but was sub­se­quent­ly vetoed by then-Gov. Jeanne Shaheen. Another attempt in 2001 failed pas­sage in the House by just eight votes after Shaheen again threat­ened a veto.

There are wide­ly vary­ing posi­tions on the death penal­ty, based on moral, reli­gious and empir­i­cal fac­tors. Nevertheless, there is an over­whelm­ing abhor­rence world­wide of putting young peo­ple to death.

An ABC poll con­duct­ed in the wake of the tri­al of 17-year-old spree killer Lee Boyd Malvo in Virginia showed that 62 per­cent of Americans pre­ferred life impris­on­ment for even the most noto­ri­ous juve­nile killers, while only 21 per­cent favored putting them to death. A Gallup poll released in May 2002 reflect­ed sim­i­lar sen­ti­ments. Only 26 per­cent of those sur­veyed favored the death penal­ty for juve­nile offend­ers.

Virtually every inter­na­tion­al orga­ni­za­tion — from the European Union to the United Nations — denounces the exe­cu­tion of juve­niles.

It is crit­i­cal that New Hampshire join the 31 oth­er states and the many for­eign coun­tries that have changed their statutes to out­law the impo­si­tion of the death penal­ty on juve­niles, not only to pro­tect its own chil­dren, but to serve as a mod­el for the nation.

The U.S. Supreme Court has made it clear that it looks at trends in state leg­is­la­tion as evi­dence of con­tem­po­rary val­ues and evolv­ing stan­dards of decen­cy. The pas­sage of Senate Bill 513 will send anoth­er much-need­ed mes­sage that Americans oppose the death penal­ty for juveniles.