In an important
moment of candor, US Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens last
week criticized the high court's refusal to examine during the
current term the constitutionality of applying capital punishment to
juveniles.
"In the last 13 years, a national consensus has developed that
juvenile offenders should not be executed. No state has lowered the
age eligibility to either 16 or 17 since our decision [permitting
the execution of 16-year-olds] in 1989," Justice Stevens said in a
dissent joined by three other justices. "In fact, the movement is in
exactly the opposite direction."
Next Tuesday, voters in Florida will have an opportunity to
verify or invalidate Stevens's observation.
Constitutional Amendment No. 1 on the Florida ballot, if
approved, would lower Florida's capital-punishment age eligibility
from 17 to 16. It would do it by changing Florida's state
constitutional ban on "cruel or unusual punishment" to ban instead
"cruel and unusual punishment."
The statewide vote comes at a time of increased debate over the
possible utility of the juvenile death penalty following the recent
arrest of John Lee Malvo, 17, as one of two suspects in the
three-week murder spree in the Washington, D.C., area.
The juvenile death penalty in Virginia could become an important
tool in that case to help prosecutors pressure Mr. Malvo into
testifying against the other suspected sniper, John Allen Muhammad,
analysts say.
In addition, if it turns out that Malvo was the primary sniper,
prosecutors may seek Malvo's execution as a proportionate punishment
for his crimes, they say.
Arguments in Florida
Whether any of these developments have an impact on Florida
voters remains unclear. Proponents of the constitutional amendment
in Florida say talk about the juvenile death penalty is a smoke
screen by anti-death-penalty activists. The measure's intent, they
say, is to bring Florida's death-penalty jurisprudence into accord
with the rulings of the US Supreme Court.
"This amendment does one simple thing: It changes one word from
'or' to 'and,' " says amendment sponsor Victor Crist, a Republican
state senator from Tampa. He says the change will help simplify and
streamline death-penalty appeals in Florida, which now take an
average 14 to 16 years.
Opponents of the amendment say it is designed to undercut
Florida's Supreme Court, whose justices are generally more liberal
than the US Supreme Court on death-penalty issues.
"Amendment No. 1 is an attack on the integrity and independence
of the Florida Supreme Court and its ability to check and balance
the state Legislature on the question of the excessive-punishment
clause of the Florida state constitution," says Abraham Bonowitz of
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
Mr. Bonowitz says he is also chairman of the One Bad Amendment
Political Committee, organized to fight the initiative.
No polls have been taken to measure potential public support or
opposition to the measure. In 1998, a similar provision was
overwhelmingly approved by voters but was later invalidated by the
Florida Supreme Court. In a 4-to-3 decision, the state justices
ruled that the wording used on the ballot was too confusing.
Critics say the 2002 version isn't a monument to clarity either.
"People are going to look at this and say, 'What is this?' " says
Bonowitz.
The explanation of the amendment is 540 words long, far longer
than the usual 75-word limit on ballot questions.
A group of election supervisors challenged the wordy question in
court, saying it would slow down the voting process and increase
ballot printing costs. The courts refused to strike down the
initiative.
Another sticking point
What most bothers amendment-supporter Mr. Crist is the suggestion
from critics that the measure is a backhanded way to facilitate
juvenile executions. "I don't know of a single person from the
governor on down to the prosecutor who would attempt to take on the
public over the execution of a minor. It would be political
suicide," Crist says.
Twice, Crist has sponsored bills banning executions of anyone
under 18. But both bills died in the Florida House of
Representatives. Crist says the prospects for a third bill next term
are excellent.
"We don't want to execute minors," he says. "There is no hidden
agenda."
The amendment was originally intended to prevent the state
Supreme Court from ruling that Florida's electric chair was a form
of cruel or unusual punishment. Since then, lawmakers have
authorized the use of lethal injection as the preferred execution
method in Florida.
Of the 38 states with capital punishment, 17 permit the execution
of suspects who are 16 at the time of the crime. Five states,
including Florida, set the death-penalty limit at age 17.
Currently, there are three inmates on Florida's death row
convicted for crimes committed when they were 17. In addition, there
are 230 juveniles in Florida prisons serving life sentences without
the possibility of parole.
