Friday, March 11, 2005

No more executions for Juvenile Offenders!

I haven't posted anything in a long while. Recently however, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down laws across the United States that allow for the execution of criminals tried as adults who were under 18 at the time the crime was committed. What do you think of this? The U.S. was one of the few remaining nations that allowed for the execution of minors. Do you agree with the slim majority (5-4) on the Court that ruled that the practice was a violation of the 8th Amendment?

I for one, have argued for a long time that the practice of capital punishment needs to be looked at in a modern and humanitarian fashion. It is a barbaric practice that furthers the tendency toward violence in our culture. Crime is not deterred by the death penalty. If falls disproportionately on minority and poor convicts. Too many innocent people have been executed in the recent past because of errors of our legal system. I would prefer to see state legislatures around the nation and Congress vote to ban the practice. Short of that, should the Court ban the practice? Does the ruling on minors open the door for such a ruling?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was very pleased to hear it since it had been one of our campaigns to end the execution of juveniles in this country. Score one for human rights!

Anonymous said...

I was very pleased to hear it since it had been one of our campaigns to end the execution of juveniles in this country. Score one for human rights!

-Yosef