USCCB weighs in on Capital Punishment for Adolescents

A broad array of individuals, groups and nations - including Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev, the American Medical Association, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the European Union - urged the Supreme Court on Monday to declare that it is unconstitutional to execute people for crimes they committed before turning 18.
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Four justices - Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter and John Paul Stevens - have said that imposing the death penalty for offenses by 16- and 17-year-olds is "inconsistent with evolving standards of decency in a civilized society." But thus far, they have not attracted the fifth vote they need to overturn the practice, which is increasingly rare.

What are these "evolving standards of decency"? I suppose they include the murder of unborn children and assisting the old and sick to "die with dignity"? Many of these people would not recognize standards of decency if they were presented to them in black and white. And, from what I have seen, decency has not "evolved" in the 20th and 21st centuries, but regressed to barbarism...

Mark Chopko, general counsel to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and author of the brief by religious groups, said all major religions teach that "the young don't have the same moral culpability" as adults.

"There is a great consensus among religious organizations that executing juveniles should offend the sense of decency in any society," he said.

Article here.