Posted March 1, 2005
Death Penalty for Juveniles Struck Down
The United States Supreme Court on March 1, 2005 abolished the death penalty for juveniles, ruling that the Constitution forbids the execution of individuals who were under the age of 18 at the time of their crime. This landmark 5-4 decision ends the current practice in 19 states of executing juvenile offenders, ages 16 and 17, and forbids the execution of approximately 72 juveniles currently on death row.
The high court’s majority decision in the Missouri case, Roper v. Simmons, held that there currently is a “consensus” in society that juveniles lack the requisite “culpability” for their crimes and that compared to “the average criminal,” minors are more unstable and emotionally imbalanced. This is similar to the reasoning the Court applied in Atkins v. Virginia in 2002, which prohibits the execution of mentally retarded offenders.
"The age of 18 is the point where society draws the line for many purposes between childhood and adulthood. It is, we conclude, the age at which the line for death penalty eligibility ought to rest," Justice Kennedy wrote. This most recent decision stays in step with the Court’s overall scaling back of the death penalty over the past three decades.
The 19 states which currently impose the death penalty on juvenile offenders are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida. Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania. South Carolina, Utah, Texas and Virginia.
For more information, please contact:
Sarah Hammond
Criminal Justice Program
NCSL - Denver
jj-info@ncsl.org
(303) 364-7700
|
