EDITORIAL – Life, not death, for juvenile offenders

With a 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court abolished the death penalty for juvenile offenders…. With a 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court abolished the death penalty for juvenile offenders. Charging that the practice offends the “evolving standards of decency” that must guide interpretation of the eighth amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishments, the High Court concluded that the line for “death eligibility” will be drawn at the age of 18.

If not at 18, then where should the line be drawn? As arbitrary as it may seem to mark adulthood by an age and not a level of maturity, it is definitely more than just a number in this case.

At 18 in the United States, a child becomes an adult — legally. Although drinking at that age is still illegal, an 18-year-old can vote, serve in the military, be bound to a contract without parental consent and play the lottery. It’s not just another candle on the birthday cake. Turning 18 represents the bestowment of new rights, and with those rights come new responsibilities.

While there are those who oppose the court’s decision, this ruling protects minors from receiving the death penalty for their crimes. The lives of 72 death-row inmates in 19 states, including two in Pennsylvania, are now spared.

Justice Anthony Kennedy cited evidence from psychologists that adolescence is marked by “impetuousness and recklessness.” He also noted that “the United States now stands alone in a world that has turned its face against the juvenile death penalty.” Five states have put minors to death for their crimes since 1989, when the court upheld the practice with Stanford v. Kentucky, saying that the execution of 16- and 17-year-olds was not cruel and unusual punishment.

Dissenting Justice Antonin Scalia mocked Kennedy’s statistic, pointing out that 18 states — 47 percent of states that permit capital punishment — have outlawed the execution of juveniles.

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who was against the ruling, argued that common experience suggests many 17-year-olds are more mature than the average young adult. She also said juries should be allowed to assess young defendants’ maturity on a case-by-case basis.

Clearly the cases heard within our judicial system are not identical and should be treated as subjectively as the law will allow. But there have to be some standards.

Banning the death penalty for juveniles does not decrease the integrity of the penal system, especially when minors can still be tried as adults and receive the maximum sentence of life imprisonment.