USA's Leading Medical Institutions Praise U.S. Supreme Court's Ruling to Ban Juvenile Death Penalty

Main Category: Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 02 Mar 2005 - 10:00 PDT


The USA's leading American medical institutions, including the American Psychiatric Association (APA), American Medical Association, American Society for Adolescent Psychiatry, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, and the National Mental Health Association, said they are pleased that the United States Supreme Court has ruled the juvenile death penalty unconstitutional.

The Court today ruled in favor (5-4) of Christopher Simmons who was 17 at the time of his crime. It affirmed the ruling of the Missouri Supreme Court which had found that the death sentence imposed on Simmons violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of "cruel and unusual punishment."

"We are pleased that the Court has recognized that executing juvenile offenders is indeed cruel and unusual. The decision acknowledges what we all know and what science has now confirmed: that the brains of adolescents function in fundamentally different ways than the brains of adults," said David Fassler, M.D., APA trustee-at-large and a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the University of Vermont.

Fassler added that the ruling affirms the position held by nearly every major national religious denomination, child advocacy group and legal and medical organization, including the American Medical Association and hundreds of others who have called for an end to the juvenile death penalty.

"We are delighted that the Court understands the differences between adolescents and adults and that the U.S. has joined the rest of the world in outlawing the death penalty for juveniles," said Robert Weinstock, M.D., APA Committee on Judicial Action member and APA distinguished life fellow.

Currently, there are 73 juvenile offenders who will now be removed from the death rows of 12 states.

The medical groups this summer filed an amicus curiae brief calling for an end to the juvenile death penalty. Briefs on behalf of Christopher Simmons were also filed by Nobel Peace Prize Laureates including former President Jimmy Carter, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, former South African President F. W. de Klerk and the Dalai Lama, nine former U.S. Diplomats, legal and religious institutions, child advocacy groups, and nearly 50 countries including the European Union and Members of the International Community.

The American Psychiatric Association is a national medical specialty society, founded in 1844, whose close to 36,000 physician members specialize in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mental illnesses including substance use disorders. For more information, visit the APA Web site at http://www.psych.org.
Hillarie Turner, 703-907-8640
press@psych.org

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