US Supreme Court to examine death penalty for juveniles

WASHINGTON, (AFP) - The US Supreme Court is to hear arguments on the legality of the death penalty for those who were 16 and 17 at the time of their crimes, although such punishment is increasingly rare in the 19 states that still allow it.
A total 73 "young criminals" are currently on death row across the United States.
In 1988, the Supreme Court barred the execution of capital offenders who were under 16 at the time of their crimes.
And in 2002, when the high court stopped executions of mentally ill people, death penalty opponents saw the move as a reflection of changing thought on capital punishment.
The court said it made its ruling in light of a marked change in the "legislative landscape" in recent years, with an increasing number of states banning the execution of the mentally deficient.
Opponents of the death penalty for teenagers hope the court will reach a similar judgement Wednesday, invoking the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution that forbids "cruel and unusual punishment."
"The court will look at whether a national consensus has evolved," said Marsha Levick, legal director and co-founder of the Juvenile Law Center, one of the oldest children`s rights organizations in the United States.
"The trend line has been all in the same direction," she told a press briefing.
In the last 10 years, only three states -- Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia -- have executed persons who were under 18 when they committed their crimes, while the number of teenagers executed nation-wide has fallen significantly.
Only two teenagers were condemned to death in 2003, compared with 15 in 1999.
The Supreme Court will be examining the issue on Wednesday as it hears arguments in the case of Christopher Simmons, condemned to death in 1993 at the age of 17 after tying up a woman and throwing her to her death from a bridge.
The Missouri Supreme Court commuted Simmons` sentence to life in prison in 2003, and the state`s attorney general appealed to the US Supreme Court.
"We don`t treat adolescents the same as adults" in the United States, argued Levick.
"It`s troubling to think they cannot own a gun or vote because the state judges them too immature, but they can be executed," she said.
The death penalty remains a topic of heated debate in the United States, supported by a large majority of the public even as the number of executions continues to drop.
US Attorney General John Ashcroft, a conservative member of President George W. Bush`s government, rarely misses an opportunity to voice his support for the death penalty.
The United States is only one of five countries, including China and Pakistan, that still execute teenagers.
The European Union, along with former US President Jimmy Carter and 17 other Nobel prize winners, have urged the US Supreme Court to halt teen executions, in a friend-of-court brief filed ahead of Wednesday`s hearing.
The court has been divided on the issue in the past, with three of the nine justices in support of the execution of teenagers and four opposed.