Posted on: Wednesday, March 2, 2005

EDITORIAL
Death penalty ruling should lead the way

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling yesterday that the death penalty for young people under the age of 18 is unconstitutionally cruel moves us closer to the day when the death penalty will be abolished altogether in the United States.

The court, in a 5-4 ruling, found that there is a "national consensus" that executing minors is a direct violation of our constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Understandably, the ruling might tear at the hearts of many who lost someone to a youthful killer. Nothing can begin to replace that loss, and justice is in order. But taking a life will not replace the loss, as so many victims' families have come to find.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor — who voted with the losing minority — offered a thought that perhaps unwittingly made the case why the death penalty should be abandoned altogether:

"The court's analysis is premised on differences in the aggregate between juveniles and adults, which frequently do not hold true when comparing individuals. Chronological age is not an unfailing measure of psychological development, and common experience suggests that many 17-year-olds are more mature than the average young 'adult.' "

True. And undoubtedly there are those older than 18 who lack the maturity or mental capacity to understand what they are doing.

The answer is to abolish the death penalty entirely.