[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 3036]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     THE SUPREME COURT'S REVIEW OF THE EXECUTION OF CHILD OFFENDERS

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President I want to speak today on the Supreme 
Court's recent decision to review whether the execution of child 
offenders--those under 18 at the time the crime was committed--is 
constitutional. The Court will soon hear the case of Christopher 
Simmons, a Missouri man who was sentenced to die for a crime he 
committed at the age of 17. The case is called Roper v. Simmons.
  In the past few years, our Nation has taken important strides toward 
fairness and justice in the administration of the death penalty. In 
2000, former Illinois Gov. George Ryan took the courageous step of 
halting executions in his State pending a top-to-bottom study of the 
use of capital punishment in Illinois. Following an exhaustive review 
of his State's system, Gov. Ryan commuted the death sentences of all 
death row inmates in Illinois in December 2002. Former Maryland Gov. 
Parris Glendening suspended executions in his State in the face of 
glaring racial and geographic disparities in the Maryland death penalty 
system. Current Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich has since lifted the 
State's moratorium, but an execution has not taken place in Maryland 
since 1998.
  A number of State legislatures have inched closer and closer to 
abolishing the death penalty or instituting moratoria in their 
jurisdictions. And in 2002, in a significant turning point for our 
Nation, the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional the execution of the 
mentally retarded. That decision, in the case of Atkins v. Virginia, 
confirmed that our Nation's standards of decency concerning the 
ultimate punishment are indeed evolving and maturing.
  While these events are steps toward fairness and indications of 
progress, they also serve as reminders that our system is seriously 
flawed. The statistics and stories of innocent people wrongly convicted 
are shocking. In the modern death penalty era, 113 individuals in 25 
different States have been exonerated after being convicted and put on 
death row. The most recent exoneration occurred just last week in a 
case from North Carolina. This should be disturbing to all Americans 
who believe in the founding principles of our Nation, liberty and 
justice for all.
  As Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in a 2002 dissent, 
after the Court refused to consider another case involving child 
offenders, the practice of executing child offenders is ``inconsistent 
with evolving standards of decency in a civilized society.'' In my 
view, Justice Stevens is right. Executions of child offenders have 
occurred in only eight countries since 1990: China, the Democratic 
Republic of the Congo, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudia Arabia, Yemen, 
and the United States of America. Most of these countries, however, 
have since banned executions of child offenders, leaving the United 
States as the only country that acknowledges its use of capital 
punishment for child offenders.
  According to Amnesty International, there have been 34 executions of 
child offenders since 1990--19 of them in the United States. And there 
are currently child offenders on death row in America who are scheduled 
to be executed this year. In fact, incredibly, Texas has scheduled the 
execution of four child offenders between March and June of this year, 
despite the Supreme Court's announcement that it will consider the 
constitutionality of such executions in the Simmons case this term.
  Currently, 38 States authorize the use of the death penalty. Nineteen 
of those States have decided that they will only execute defendants who 
were 18 or older at the time of the crime. But 5 States use 17 as the 
minimum age, and the other 16 States permit the execution of defendants 
who were as young as 16 when they committed the crime.
  The State Department has said: ``Because the promotion of human 
rights is an important national interest, the United States seeks to 
hold governments accountable to their obligations under universal human 
rights norms and international human rights instruments.'' But we can 
only call ourselves protectors of human rights if we practice what we 
preach. Here at home, we continue to apply capital punishment to those 
who were convicted of crimes committed before legally becoming adults. 
Spreading decency and humanity must begin here at home. As long as 
America executes child offenders, our reputation as a shining example 
of respect for human rights is tarnished.
  At the beginning of the 108th Congress, I introduced the National 
Death Penalty Moratorium Act, which would suspend Federal executions 
while we conduct a thorough study of the administration of the Federal 
death penalty at the State and Federal levels. My bill would 
specifically require a commission to review all aspects of the system, 
including the practice of sentencing child offenders to death. I urge 
my colleagues to cosponsor and support the National Death Penalty 
Moratorium Act, and I look forward to the Supreme Court's review of 
this important issue. I am hopeful that the Court will build upon the 
progress it made two years ago when it ended the execution of the 
mentally retarded. Banning the execution of child offenders is the 
right thing to do. Congress should act if the Court doesn't.

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