It's about time we joined the rest of the civilized world.
What determines a civilized world is relative in nature. What is civilized to you may be barberic to someone else living here or in another country. That being said, I'm in favor of this ruling. I'm not a strong proponent of the death penalty but I'm not completely against it. I believe it should be used in the most abhorant of circumstances like the BTK killings and the alleged hate killings of that judge's mother and her husband in Chicago. What bothers me is what Justice Kennedy stated in his majority opinion:
"It is proper that we acknowledge the overwhelming weight of international opinion against the juvenile death penalty, resting in large part on the understanding that the instability and emotional imbalance of young people may often be a factor in the crime."
The Supreme Court is not in the business of acknowledging the opinion of international views regarding a particular subject matter. Their job is to interpret the Constitution of the United States which they swore an oath upon. In the most part they did in this case, but to recognize international opinion when interpreting United States law is a dangerous precedent. International opinion or even international law should never be considered when interpreting United States law. The key word here is interpreting not creating.
