Problems with the ban on executing juveniles (pt 1)

[Troubleshooter]

Bad Brains
How the Supreme Court's teen execution decision proves too much
Ronald Bailey


Last month the Supreme Court ruled that teenagers under age 18 who commit premeditated murder cannot be executed. The court based its ruling in part on recent studies that found that the frontal lobesof teenagers were not sufficiently developed, making them not fully responsible for their actions. To justify its ruling, the court majority adopted many of the arguments put forth in an amicus brief sponsored by the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association, among others.

That brief argued that recent neuroimaging studies had found that the "brain's frontal lobes are still structurally immature well into late adolescence. The prefrontal cortex (which.is most associated with impulse control, risk assessment, and moral reasoning) is 'one of the last brain regions to mature.'" Consequently, the amicus brief concluded the evidence "based upon studies of normal adolescents, leads to the conclusion that normal adolescents cannot be expected to operate with the level of maturity, judgment, risk aversion, or impulse control of an adult. Adolescents cannot be expected to transcend their own psychological or biological capacities. However, an adolescent who has suffered brain trauma, a dysfunctional family life, violence, or abuse cannot be presumed to operate even at standard levels for adolescents."

Naturally, death penalty opponents and child advocacy organizations hailed the court's decision. But this diminished capacity argument could well play out in disturbing ways.

Already the immature teen brain argument has been used by legislators to impose various restrictions on teenage drivers, including limits on times they can drive, the number of passengers they can carry, and their use of mobile phones. That may appear reasonable; after all, teenagers do account disproportionately for traffic accidents.

Progressives who applauded the Supreme Court's decision with regard to imposing the death penalty might not be so happy when conservatives turn around and use that decision to justify imposing more parental consent laws on teenage women who are seeking an abortion. And will statutory rape lawsneed to be revised in light of the findings with regard to the immaturity of teenage brains? Furthermore, if teenagers aren't responsible for their actions with regard to violence, driving, or sex, how can they be expected to cast their ballots responsibly in elections? For that matter, how can teenagers responsibly sign up for military service? And surely the immaturity defense can be used by the tens of thousands of juveniles who are arrested each year for drug abuse offenses.