Finally, if you can't buy porno, you shouldn't get the death penalty.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...eath_penalty_5
High Court Ends Death Penalty for Youths:

By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the Constitution forbids the execution of killers who were under 18 when they committed their crimes, ending a practice used in 19 states.



The 5-4 decision throws out the death sentences of about 70 juvenile murderers and bars states from seeking to execute minors for future crimes.

The executions, the court said, were unconstitutionally cruel.

It was the second major defeat at the high court in three years for supporters of the death penalty. Justices in 2002 banned the execution of the mentally retarded, also citing the Constitution's Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishments.

The court had already outlawed executions for those who were 15 and younger when they committed their crimes.

Tuesday's ruling prevents states from making 16- and 17-year-olds eligible for execution.

Justice Anthony Kennedy (news - web sites), writing for the majority, noted that most states don't allow the execution of juvenile killers and those that do use the penalty infrequently. The trend, he noted, was to abolish the practice.

"Our society views juveniles ... as categorically less culpable than the average criminal," Kennedy wrote.

Juvenile offenders have been put to death in recent years in just a few other countries, including Iran (news - web sites), Pakistan, China and Saudi Arabia. All those countries have gone on record as opposing capital punishment for minors.

The Supreme Court has permitted states to impose capital punishment since 1976 and more than 3,400 inmates await execution in the 38 states that allow death sentences.

Justices were called on to draw an age line in death cases after Missouri's highest court overturned the death sentence given to a 17-year-old Christopher Simmons, who kidnapped a neighbor in Missouri, hog-tied her and threw her off a bridge. Prosecutors say he planned the burglary and killing of Shirley Crook in 1993 and bragged that he could get away with it because of his age.

The four most liberal justices had already gone on record in 2002, calling it "shameful" to execute juvenile killers. Those four, joined by Kennedy, also agreed with Tuesday's decision: Justices John Paul Stevens (news - web sites), David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg (news - web sites) and Stephen Breyer (news - web sites).

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia (news - web sites) and Clarence Thomas (news - web sites), as expected, voted to uphold the executions. They were joined by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (news - web sites).

Currently, 19 states allow executions for people under age 18: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Texas and Virginia.

In a dissent, Scalia decried the decision, arguing that there has been no clear trend of declining juvenile executions to justify a growing consensus against the practice.

"The court says in so many words that what our people's laws say about the issue does not, in the last analysis, matter: 'In the end our own judgment will be brought to bear on the question of the acceptability of the death penalty,' he wrote in a 24-page dissent.

"The court thus proclaims itself sole arbiter of our nation's moral standards," Scalia wrote.

[ March 01, 2005, 03:43 PM: Message edited by: victim ]

bout time...my b/f got out of capital punishment in Illinois w/ a class X felony because he commited the crimes when he was 17, hooray for USA "breakin the law,breakin the law"....and getting away with it =)

sounds like you have quite the winner there.

I knew someone would see him for who he is, thanks blondie

It's about time this precident was passed.

-Ugly Bastard

that's fantastic. it's another step in the right direction.. fucking death penalty.

What was that story about the prison guard again?

what? that he fucked a female officer

You aren't supposed to do that are you?

well, your not supposed to commit crimes and go to jail either, but since he did, he might as well get some pussy wherever he finds it

You have an interesting way of looking at things.

So i've been told.

Wavos.

[ March 03, 2005, 01:47 PM: Message edited by: Niger Angelus ]

Ovaries

isn't it juevos or something like that?

OK Mr. Modest.

You study Spanish in college, you know damn well better than anybody else on this thread that yes it is indeed jeuvos. Where did the badass Blonde go?

Or is this your attempt to be a subtle badass.

"Hey, not like I study this in college or anything, but I think it might be juevos? I know that despite being sure of myself, which would indicate that I actually do study Spanish. Instead my knowledge appears infinite."

I dropped my Spanish minor sophomore year after the 102 course here, during sp. 201 because it was hard as hell. Plus, they don't teach you how to say "balls" in spanish, I only know that word because we grew up in the Goshen area.


EDIT: But yes, I suppose I did know what it meant. I was just wording it properly and trying to be a discrete badass. However, I think we should call in an expert on this one. Anky?

[ March 03, 2005, 08:21 PM: Message edited by: Mr. Blonde ]