THE KENTUCKY legislature should not let its 2002 session
end without
prohibiting the execution of people who were under
the age of 18 at the
time of their crimes. Our basic notions of justice
and our understanding
of the mental development of adolescents requires
it. The people favor
it. And there is no sacrifice to law enforcement in
doing so.
It is a fundamental notion of American justice that
punishment must fit
both the crime and the person who commits it. A critical
factor in
deciding punishment is the degree of culpability of
the person who
committed the crime. Two people may commit the same
act, but they may be
punished differently based on their intentions, malice,
and other
factors that distinguish them as individuals.
In that regard, there is a vast difference between
an adult who has a
greater degree of maturity, judgment and knowledge
of right and wrong
than a 16- or 17-year old youth. Both should be punished,
but they
should not receive the same punishment.
The death penalty is not frequently imposed in Kentucky.
It is reserved
for the people who maliciously commit the worst murders
and are believed
to be so incorrigible, so beyond redemption that the
ultimate penalty is
required.
It is not possible to say that about a child of 16
or 17, who invariably
lacks maturity and judgment of an adult. Dr. Mark
S. Wright, president
of the Kentucky Psychiatric Association, has pointed
out that recent
discoveries by brain researchers demonstrate that
the brains of
adolescents are far less developed than previously
thought. Scientists
are finding that adolescent brains are still growing
in the late teens
and even into the 20s.
Not surprisingly, the parts of the brain that are
still developing are
those that deal with judgment, controlling emotions
and impulses, and
higher levels of thinking. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds
are even less
culpable than we ever knew.
This is not to say that someone of that age does not
know right from
wrong or should not be held accountable for his or
her actions. This is
a matter of degrees, but they are critical degrees.
Based on what we know as parents, teachers and now
as a result of these
scientific discoveries, we cannot say that any child
of 16 or 17 is so
beyond redemption that death is an appropriate punishment.
It is
immensely difficult to say that any human being is
so far beyond
redemption that he should be eliminated from the human
community, but we
should never say this about a 16- or 17-year-old child.
The death penalty for children — imposed no more often
than once every
25 years or so — serves no law enforcement purpose.
Even if children had
the maturity and judgment to be deterred, a punishment
used so
infrequently against them has no deterrent value.
Children are punished
and society is protected from future antisocial acts
by putting them in
adult prisons.
So it is not surprising that the Commonwealth Attorneys
Association has
not opposed passage of the bill and that some of its
members, like
Franklin County Commonwealth’s Attorney Larry Cleveland
and his
predecessor Morris Burton, have indicated that they
would not ever seek
to execute juveniles.
Most Kentuckians support the bill. The University
of Kentucky Research
Center reports that eight out of 10 Kentuckians oppose
executing
children.
Those who would retain the death penalty for children
argue that juries
should decide whether to impose the death sentence
on a case-by-case
basis. This argument has surface appeal, but it does
not take into
account the fact that a jury considering the fate
of a child would not
be representative of the community. The law allows
the exclusion of
jurors who do not believe in the death penalty. In
a case involving a
child, that would exclude eight out of 10 Kentuckians.
The remaining eligible jurors would represent only
20 percent of the
population.
Beyond that, we are still learning about the development
of the brains
of adolescents. We cannot measure the degree of development
with
precision. So an attempt to assess culpability is
nothing more than a
rough guess — difficult enough to make in the cases
of older people, but
impossible to make in the cases of adolescents.
The execution of a child accomplishes nothing more
than a worldwide
public relations disaster for the state that carries
it out over the
protests of the Pope and other religious leaders of
various faiths,
human rights groups and foreign governments.
Only five other countries — Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan,
Saudi Arabia and
Congo — execute people who were under 18 at the time
of their crimes.
The rest of the world has done without the death penalty
for children.
Kentucky can as well.
Gov. Paul Patton has announced that he will sign the
bill eliminating
the death penalty for those under 18 if it reaches
his desk.
The legislature should send it to him.
The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky., Sunday, March
17, 2002
