NEWS STORY: Religious Groups Weigh in as Supreme Court Considers Juvenile Executions

c. 2004 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Death row inmate Christopher Simmons will have the support of more than 30 religious organizations Wednesday (Oct. 13) when the Supreme Court considers whether he and other juvenile offenders deserve the death penalty. United by their conviction that juvenile executions are morally unacceptable, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist and […]

c. 2004 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Death row inmate Christopher Simmons will have the support of more than 30 religious organizations Wednesday (Oct. 13) when the Supreme Court considers whether he and other juvenile offenders deserve the death penalty.

United by their conviction that juvenile executions are morally unacceptable, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist and interfaith organizations have joined to end juvenile executions as a cruel and unusual punishment that violates the philosophies of their faiths.


The groups argue that minors’ developing mental capacities, inability to judge the consequences of their actions and potential for rehabilitation make the case for banning executions of juvenile offenders.

“Anecdotal evidence suggests that when juveniles do engage in serious crimes, it is almost always attended by mitigating circumstances such as early and continual exposure to violence and family and social disruption,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a friend-of-the-court brief it filed in July with 29 other religious groups. “Society holds great hope for the reform of wayward youth.”

Simmons, who was 17 at the time he murdered Missouri resident Shirley Crook, would be no exception, the bishops said.

In the fall of 1993, Simmons and a friend broke into Crook’s home to burglarize her. Simmons decided to kill Crook when he realized that she recognized him. He and his friend bound Crook and drove her to Castlewood State Park in St. Louis County. Simmons then pushed Crook from a railroad trestle into the Meramec River.

At the time of his offense, Simmons was physically and verbally abused by an alcoholic stepfather, abused drugs and alcohol himself to escape his dysfunctional family environment and was impulsive, according to his lawyers.

A clinical psychologist retained by his lawyers diagnosed Simmons with schizotypal personality disorder, a condition that involves reduced capacity for social and interpersonal relationships, cognitive distortions, paranoia and magical beliefs.

“Allowing the execution of juvenile offenders, like persons with mental retardation, is a virtual guarantee that the least deserving will be put to death,” the bishops said in their brief.


Although they differ in their views about the death penalty in general, the religious organizations advocate rehabilitation and restorative justice in cases of juvenile offenders.

“There is a growing number of people in this country who really see that vengeance does not lead to healing,” said Diana Lion, director of the prison project at the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. “Looking at what caused the crime in the first place is a much deeper level of looking at the safety and security of the community.”

The Supreme Court will decide whether executing Simmons or other juvenile offenders violates a prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment in the Eight Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

In throwing out Simmons’ original death sentence and resentencing him to life in prison without parole, Missouri’s Supreme Court argued it was influenced by evolving standards of justice and public opinion, coupled with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2002 decision to ban the execution of mentally retarded defendants.

In a 1989 case, the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that there was no national consensus for banning the execution of 16- and 17-year-olds. The Simmons case reopens that debate. The high court banned the execution of 15-year-olds in 1988.

The United States is one of eight countries that have executed minors since 1990, along with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, China, and Yemen, according to Amnesty International.


Lawyers for the state superintendent in the case, Roper v. Simmons, argue that the Missouri Supreme Court did not have the authority to reopen a question that the U.S. Supreme Court had already ruled on.

“There is no magic in the age 18,” argue the states of Alabama, Delaware, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Virginia in a brief they filed in support of the Missouri superintendent. “A teenager who plots like an adult, kills like an adult and covers up like an adult should be held responsible for his choices like an adult.”

For some of the religious groups, their advocacy on behalf of Simmons is part of a larger effort to end capital punishment altogether in the nation.

“We have a deep-held conviction that capital punishment is brutalizing to society and contrary to values we hold,” said the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA). “We obviously support the ending of the death penalty in the United States. Until that’s achieved across the board, we’d like to limit it as much as possible.”

Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said the death penalty is not fairly applied. “We believe there definitely needs to be debate and review, especially when we’re trying to preach nonviolence to the rest of the world in a post-9/11 era,” Al-Marayati said.

KRE/PH END YAKAR

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