Publications & Testimony

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…

In a recent opinion piece published in The Miami Herald, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter called on Florida and other states that continue to sentence juvenile offenders to death to abandon the practice, noting that it “violates current principles of American justice.” Carter stated that America could soon be the last nation on Earth to execute juvenile offenders, and that the U.S. is one of only two nations that have not ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Tallahassee Democrat April 12, 2004 Editorial By Sheila S. Hopkins Children are different from adults. That is why society does not allow them to buy tobacco or alcohol, own a handgun, serve in combat or vote. With few exceptions, a general rule of law is that parents have an obligation to financially support their children until age 18 when they would be considered adults. The Florida Catholic Conference joins other voices supporting the passage by the Florida Legislature of SB 224 and…

Orlando Sentenial April 12, 2004 Editorial We support the death penalty — for adults. But it’s wrong for Florida to consider executing people for crimes they committed before age 18. Yet a measure in the Florida Legislature intended to reserve capital punishment for convicts older than 18 has been twisted by a House subcommittee. It allows the execution of people who committed crimes when they were 17. It’s incumbent that reasonable lawmakers set the age limit at 18. Reserving the death…

An Associated Press analysis of the 334 capital indictments filed in Franklin County, Ohio, found that only 16 (5%) of the cases ended with a death sentence. Of those sentences, two have been reduced to life in prison without parole, one man died on the row, and two men were executed this year. Research shows that of the remaining Franklin County cases, 183 cases (55%) ended in plea agreements, and in 111 cases (33%) juries or three-judge panels convicted the offenders but did not sentence them…

About half of Pennsylvania’s death row of 240 inmates comes from Philadelphia. Yet in the 11 years that the Defender Association of Philadelphia has been handling capital cases, not one of their clients has been sentenced to death. The Defender Office handles one of every five capital cases in the city. The difference between life and death appears to rest with the quality of representation and often comes down to dollar and cents. “What is going on in Philadelphia is really a model example of…

According to Amnesty International’s latest report on executions around the world, China, Iran, the United States, and Vietnam accounted for 84% of the 1,146 known executions carried out in 21 nations in 2003. China carried out at least 726 executions, Iran executed 108 people, the United States carried out 65 executions, and Viet Nam reported 64 executions last year. Among those executed in 2003 were two juvenile offenders, 1 in China and 1 in the United States. The report noted that 77…

The Miami Herald April 7, 2004 Editorial By Rosalynn Carter Florida Senate Bill 224, which would eliminate the death penalty for individuals who commit offenses when they are under the age of 18, is under consideration in Florida during this legislative session. Florida should join 31 other states that recognize that executing juveniles violates current principles of American justice. Our country has sought to protect juveniles in almost every facet of their life, enacting laws prohibiting…

A bill establishing the sentencing option of life without parole in capital cases has been sent to Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius for signature into law. The state legislature passed the bipartisan measure in an attempt to curb costs associated with the death penalty. A legislative audit released in December 2003 found that the average cost of a death penalty case in Kansas is $1.2 million. An advisory group of judges and attorneys who studied the state’s death penalty law last year…