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| Supreme Court will revisit execution of teenage killers |
| By CNN |
| Published: 01/27/2004 |
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The Supreme Court Monday agreed to again decide the constitutionality of executing people who were juveniles at the time they committed murder. The justices will consider the Missouri case of Christopher Simmons, who was 17 at the time of a murder-robbery. The state Supreme Court overturned his death sentence last year, saying the execution of those under 18 violated the Constitution's ban on "cruel and unusual punishment." Missouri officials then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court asking the law be upheld. In accepting the Simmons case, the high court said it will reopen the question of whether executing very young killers violates the Constitution's ban on "cruel and unusual punishment." Currently, states that allow the death penalty may impose it on killers who were 16 or 17 at the time of their crimes. The case continues a contentious debate over the death penalty -- both who belongs on death row, and how it should be carried out. The 5-4 conservative majority on the current Court has typically upheld capital punishment, but two years ago the justices did outlaw executing the mentally retarded who are convicted of crimes that carry the death penalty. The four more liberal justices -- John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer -- have long spoken out against the practice of executing teenage killers. In a strongly worded joint statement last year, they labeled it a "shameful practice" and a "relic of the past ... inconsistent with evolving standards of decency in a civilized society." The issue now for the nation's high court is twofold, say legal experts: Whether public opinion on how the death penalty is carried out has changed, and whether teenage killers, in much the same way as the mentally retarded, have the capacity to fully comprehend their actions. Oral arguments in the will likely be heard this fall. The case is Roper v. Simmons, case no. 03-0633. |
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