Supreme Court will revisit execution of teenage killers
By Bill Mears
CNN Washington Bureau
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- 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. (Full story)
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.
The Supreme Court in 1989 upheld executing those under 18 at the time of their crimes. Only the United States and a handful of other countries allow execution of juvenile killers, and death penalty opponents argue that such executions violate not only the Constitution but an international treaty signed by the United States. (Full story)
According to Victor Streib, an Ohio Northern University law professor who issues an annual report on the issue, 20 states, not including Missouri, have laws for executing juvenile killers, but the practice is declining. 14 juvenile offenders were sentenced to death in 1999, seven in 2001, four in 2002, and two last year.
Texas has executed 13 young killers since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976.
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Christopher Simmons
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According to the Death Penalty Information Center, there are now 82 inmates on death row nationwide for crimes committed when they were under 18, according to an Associated Press report. States have put to death 22 such inmates in recent years.
The issue gained national attention last year when Lee Boyd Malvo, convicted by a Virginia jury in one of the 2002 Washington-area sniper shootings, was spared the death penalty. He was 17 at the time of his arrest. His adult co-conspirator, John Muhammad, was sentenced to die for a separate sniper killing.
In the Missouri case, Christopher Simmons was convicted of the 1993 murder of Shirley Crook. Her body was found in the Meramec River in St. Louis County, and had been tied with electric cable, leather straps and duct tape, with bruises on her body and fractured ribs.
Simmons' family and attorneys claimed he suffered from severe mental and physical abuse from his stepfather.
Oral arguments in the will likely be heard this fall. The case is Roper v. Simmons, case no. 03-0633.
Copyright 2004 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
