Death Penalty for Minors

[ShyGuyInChicago]

Please respond to what he Supreme Court said when they found executing a juvenile to be unconstitutional in the Roper v. Simmons Case

This is what the Supreme Court said in the Roper v. Simmons case that made executing a person under age 18 unconstitutional

"First, lack of maturity and an underdeveloped sense of responsibility are found in youth more often than in adults and are more understandable among the young. These qualities often result in impetuous and ill-considered actions and decisions…."

"Second, juveniles are more vulnerable or susceptible to negative influences and outside pressures, including peer pressure…."

"Third, the character of a juvenile is not as well formed as that of an adult. The personality traits of juveniles are more transitory, less fixed."

If you believe juveniles should be exucted how old should they be?

Do you think that a constitutional amendment should be made in order to allow such a thing?

[deadpie]

I don't believe anyone should be executed for anything by the government. Everyone deserves to be helped and can be. People aren't willing to help murderers and rapists because we think they're sick people (which they might be), but we don't even look at why the do it and work on those problems to help them. Everyone has a reason for what they do. Killing someone is giving up. Giving up on the person is cowardly and weak.

inb4 rage


Executing children and teenagers is the dumbest idea ever. They haven't even experienced half of life yet.

[enzenzz]

The mere fact that age is the determining factor is always subject to debate. how much maturity can one person gain in a month or even a year before he reaches legal age. Also, how can you say that a person is already mature/responsible just because he has lived a certain number of years?

The problem here is how to determine the fact that he is acting in his own will. Maybe he should be tried as a minor but as the hearings progress the verdict can be applied as though he is an adult.

[Amnesiac]

I'm also anti-death penalty. We don't need constitutional amendments for everything we don't like the supreme court saying, and an amendment concerning this issue will probably never come to light as capital punishment is on the downfall.

Kids and teenagers like us who commit acts of violence usually do so for different, more understandable reasons than adults. It's usually due to poverty or family violence.

[INFERNO]

I'm against the death penalty regardless of age. For minors though, killing someone who has not experienced much of life to even reach complete cognitive development and is not even an adult, seems awful. Everyone can be influenced by others and subject to peer-pressure so the second reason seems to hold less merit because it does not distinguish minors from adults. Children are born into the lives their parents provided, so when young minors murder, it may be a response to poor living conditions and these conditions are out of their control, they're in the hands of their parents.