Editorial

Just as Florida Speaker Johnnie Byrd (R-Plant City) has rightly and courageously championed putting a constitutional amendment on the ballot requiring parental notice for minors seeking abortions, he should now support legislation to change statutes which currently permit minors to be subjected to execution.

In both matters, the principle is the same: the law should recognize that minors must be treated differently (as it does in other laws related to minors). In the case of minors seeking abortions, at the very least, parents must be informed about such an important and life-changing medical procedure – no matter how politically correct abortion is. In the case of capital punishment, the law should recognize the difference of minors’ moral culpability – no matter how politically incorrect it may be to shield minors from the death penalty.

Senate Bill 224, sponsored by Sen. Victor Crist (R-Tampa), and House Bill 63, sponsored by Rep. Phillip Brutus (D-Palm Beach), would raise the minimum age for capital punishment to 18. This is Sen. Crist’s fifth attempt in five years to pass this legislation. Currently, four individuals on Florida’s Death Row committed their crimes while minors.

Enjoying bi-partisan support in both chambers, the legislation has now passed committees in both chambers and Senate adoption is considered likely. However, Speaker Byrd has indicated he opposes the bill and there is question whether he will allow a vote by the entire House of Representatives, even though sponsors believe they have a majority of support in the Republican-dominated body.

“I can get it out of the Senate, but it’s going to be a decision the speaker’s going to have to make whether he’s going to embrace it or not,” Crist recently told Associated Press.

Regular readers of this column may be surprised by my support of legislation limiting capital punishment. After all, in a Jan. 23, 2003, editorial, “Sanctity of human life and the death penalty,” I argued for the moral consistency of opposition to abortion and support for capital punishment: “The sacredness and intrinsic value of human life demands that a moral society protect the unborn and execute its most heinous murderers. Opposition to abortion and support for the death penalty are not only ethically consistent, they are both required by a biblical worldview.” Still, I also believe that when it comes to minors there must be an exception because youths cannot be considered as morally culpable under the law as adults. Therefore, the punishment for minors must be different.

Like some members of the Florida Legislature, I have struggled with this matter. I strongly believe that a just society must sentence to death its most egregious offenders in order to affirm and protect the sanctity of human life. Nevertheless, the sanctity of human life must also take into account the difference in moral culpability of offenders who have not reached maturity.

Thinking about this issue in the light of our present worldwide war against terrorism has helped me. Except by parental consent for 17-year-olds, one must be 18 in order to serve in the all branches of the U.S. military. Further, as required by law, all 18-year-olds must register with Selective Service in order to be able to serve their country in the case of a draft. Minors are not permitted to make the ultimate sacrifice in the service of their country; neither should they be subjected to the ultimate punishment for crimes against the state.

The law already recognizes the difference of minors in numerous ways: they may not vote, purchase alcohol or tobacco, own a handgun or enter into contracts. (Minor girls currently may get abortions without parental involvement, but that’s what the parental notice amendment seeks to redress, in part.)

Rep. Aaron Bean (R-Fernandina Beach), supports banning juvenile executions because, “A 17-year-old can’t get a jury of his peers [as required by the Constitution] because a 17-year-old cannot sit on a jury.”

There is also a practical reason to ban juvenile executions. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case this fall, Roper v. Simmons, challenging the constitutionality of capital punishment of minors. With the federal government and 19 states already prohibiting juvenile executions and those executions becoming increasingly rare, there is a strong likelihood that the Supreme Court will overturn the practice.

Sen. Crist notes that if the nation’s highest court finds juvenile executions unconstitutional, such a ruling could invalidate Florida’s entire death penalty statutes. Crist told South Florida Sun Sentinel, adoption of his legislation is a “win-win for both sides” in the capital punishment debate: while the death penalty is limited for juveniles, it would remain intact for use against adult offenders.

In addition to bi-partisan support in both chambers of the Legislature, SB 224/HB 63 enjoys the support of former First Lady Rosalyn Carter – who published an op-ed recently in the Miami Herald – the Florida Catholic Conference, as well the state’s top legal and law enforcement officers, Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Guy Tunnell, according to the Sun Sentinel. Although Sen. Crist has received “encouraging signals” from Gov. Jeb Bush’s staff, the governor is officially neutral at this point.

The families of capital crime victims deserve justice, including when juveniles are the offenders. SB 224/HB 63 demonstrates the moral seriousness of such crime by requiring life imprisonment without possibility of parole. Still, executing minors cannot be considered just.

Florida Baptists should urge Speaker Byrd to support HB 63 – or at least simply allow the entire House to vote on the matter. Just as the law should recognize the importance of parental involvement in minors’ abortions, the law must treat differently even capital offenses of youth.