U.S. SUPREME COURT ABOLISHES JUVENILE DEATH PENALTY

The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) applauds the U.S. Supreme Court for its 5-4 majority decision in Roper v. Simmons yesterday, holding that it is constitutionally impermissible to impose the death penalty on offenders who are under the age of 18 when they commit a crime.

NLADA submitted an amicus curiae brief in 2004 arguing that neither retribution nor deterrence provide adequate justification for imposing the death penalty on juvenile offenders. In agreement with NLADA’s position, the Court found that the difference between juvenile and adult offenders was so distinct that the evolving standard of decency in the country precludes the imposition of capital punishment for juveniles.

Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy stated, “Our determination that the death penalty is disproportionate punishment for offenders under 18 finds confirmation in the stark reality that the United States is the only country in the world that continues to give official sanction to the juvenile death penalty. …The Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments forbid imposition of the death penalty on offenders who are under the age of 18 when their crimes were committed.”

As a result of the Court’s ruling, more than 70 juveniles currently on death row for committing crimes while younger than 18 years of age will have their death sentences vacated. Before yesterday’s ruling, there were 19 states that allowed the death penalty for juveniles. However, the Court’s ruling will largely impact the states of Texas, which had 29 juvenile offenders on death row, and Alabama, which had 14.

“It is truly ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ to sentence juveniles to death for crimes committed as adolescents,” said Clint Lyons, NLADA president and CEO. “As Justice Kennedy duly noted, ‘from a moral standpoint, it would be misguided to equate the failings of a minor with those of an adult, for a greater possibility exists that a minor’s character deficiencies will be reformed.’ A death sentence lacks the heart to see the good and the hope for reform. Without either there is no justice and our society would be representative of the thoughts and ideals of an antiquated time.”