STATEMENT OF DELEGATE ALBERT C. EISENBERG ON THE JUVENILE DEATH PENALTY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Richmond, VA
June 29, 2004
CONTACT: Sue Rafferty,
Legislative Assistant,(804)698-1047
On June 29, 2004 Delegate Al Eisenberg made the following speech on the steps of the US Supreme Court during a rally by Virginians Against the Death Penalty on the Juvenile Death Penalty:
The US Supreme Court should rule that the death penalty for 16 and 17 year olds should be abolished. Along with an overwhelming number of Americans, I believe that executing high school students or those that were so young at the time of their crime is wrong.
Yes, teenagers can and do commit horrendous crimes. Such crimes must be punished and even harshly. And our hearts first and foremost must go out to the victims and their families. Yet, I believe that the ultimate penalty for teenagers does not belong in a civilized society. They are not adults, and we should not throw away all chance in salvaging a life from a life lost.
During the most recent session of the Virginia General Assembly, I introduced legislation to abolish the death penalty for juveniles. While the legislation was not approved, it garnered 25 bi-partisan co-patrons, the largest such number ever achieved on this issue in Virginia.
The trend is clear. States have been reluctant to execute 16 and 17 year olds. The death penalty is losing favor. A Gallup poll shows that 69 percent of Americans oppose the death penalty for offenders under 18. Only 26 percent approved.
Numerous organizations oppose this death penalty:
- American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- National Mental Health Association
- Children's Defense Fund
- American Academy of Pediatrics
- American Baptist Churches
- American Bar Association
- American Jewish Committee
- American Psychiatric Association
- Catholic Bishops of America
- Child Welfare League
- Presbyterian Church USA
- National Education Association
- United Methodist Church
- National Council on Crime and Delinquency
- American Law Institute
- American Psychological Association
- And many, many more organizations
28 states and the federal government prohibit executions of offenders under age 18. Of the 22 states allowing such executions, only 15 have juvenile offenders on death row.
Virginia has executed three who were juveniles at the time of their crime. Only three countries the U.S., Iran, and China still execute juvenile offenders. Several others Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and the Congo have the penalty but haven't used it in years. In 2002, Texas was the only jurisdiction in the world to execute a juvenile offender. Last year, Oklahoma and China were the only such jurisdictions in the world to do so.
There is no reputable study that has demonstrated that execution of juveniles has any deterrence value whatsoever. Scientific studies demonstrate that 16 and 17 year olds are not adults; they are not fully formed. They are incomplete. Anybody who has teenage children knows how awful their judgment can be.
Harvard University Medical Center has shown through MRI research that the adolescent brain doesn't mature until 18-22. The part of the brain necessary for inhibition and goal directed behavior is not fully operational until then. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in its studies found the brain does not physically stop maturing until age 20 years old.
Two-thirds of all juveniles sentenced to death in the U.S. had backgrounds of abuse, profound psychological disturbances, low IQ, and/or intensive substance abuse.
Now the Supreme Court has taken up the issue of executing high school students who commit capital crimes. As a former four term chairman of the Arlington, VA County Board, I know that a pending court case is usually grounds for putting an issue aside. But this case is different. The Supreme Court is watching what we do. In Atkins vs. Virginia, in which the Supreme Court outlawed the execution of retarded offenders, the justices asked about public opinion; they asked about what is going in the state legislatures; they asked about evolving law and sentiment. And when they take up the death penalty for high schoolers, they will be guided in part by what we do here.
Let me close with this thought. Many consider this issue by remembering the biblical phrase-an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Yet that statement is not one of exacting revenge. Justice is not and cannot be about revenge, even though we so strongly feel its pull. Biblical scholars will tell you that this phrase is about setting limits. It means that you may not exact a larger penalty.
Surely, the fact that all the major religious denominations oppose the execution of 16 and 17 year olds must tell us something about the moral side of this question. It is time that we stop substituting revenge for justice. It is time that we abolish the death penalty for juveniles. "
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