the Sugar Conspiracy

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Minors can't be executed

The Supreme Court ruled today, in one of the most closely watched capital punishment cases in years, that imposing the death penalty on convicted murderers who were younger than 18 at the time of their crimes is unconstitutional.

The 5-to-4 decision, arising from a Missouri case, holds that executing young killers violates "the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society," and that American society has come to regard juveniles as less culpable than adult criminals.

We weren't exactly in the best of company on this one:

Until today, the United States and Somalia were the only nations that permitted putting teenage criminals to death.

posted by chris at 2:18 PM
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