[psych-hr] USA: Leading health professionals call to end execution of juvenile offenders

***Learn more about the World Day Against the Death Penalty, 10 October:
http://www.hrea.org/feature-events/world-day-against-death-penalty.php


Physicians for Human Rights-USA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 8, 2004

US Supreme Court Oral Argument in Roper v Simmons:
US Surgeons General, Hundreds of Leading Child Health Professionals,
Neuroscientists and Key Medical Organizations Call to End Execution of
Juvenile Offenders

In an unprecedented consensus, 400 medical and adolescent development
experts, including former US Surgeons General C. Everett Koop, David
Satcher and Julius Richmond, have endorsed The Health Professionals' Call
to Abolish the Execution of Juvenile Offenders in the United States ("Call
to Abolish"). On Wednesday, October 13, the Supreme Court will hear
arguments in Roper v. Simmons, a case that will review the
constitutionality of the death penalty for youths under eighteen at the
time of the crime. The Call to Abolish, organized by Physicians for Human
Rights, reflects the widespread scientific consensus that minors "do not
yet possess the maturity and mental capacities required to justify the
imposition of the ultimate adult punishment."

"Recent advances in science show us that the brains of children operate
differently than those of adults. Juveniles are underdeveloped and
immature, particularly in the areas of the brain that dictate reason,
impulse control and decision-making," said C. Everett Koop, Surgeon
General during the Reagan administration.

Adolescent behavior is dominated by the region of the brain associated
with impulse and aggression. Modern neurological research, recently
publicized by the National Institute of Mental Health, strongly suggests
that the part of the brain that controls such behavior, and which also
permits anticipation of consequences, consideration of alternatives,
planning and organization of sequential behavior, does not fully mature
until at least the age of eighteen. The research has led experts in
adolescent development to conclude that it is unreasonable to impose
expectations of adult-level capacities on the thinking and behavior of
minors.

Moreover, adolescents most likely to be subject to the death penalty have
been subject to abuse. David Satcher, Surgeon General during the first
term of the Clinton administration, said, "Our country's practice of
executing its youth is one that is unacceptable and should end as soon as
possible.  Not only must we acknowledge the relative immaturity and
underdevelopment of our youth, but we must also acknowledge our society's
responsibility for many of their behaviors. In the Surgeon General's
report on treating children with mental disorders, we pointed out that
more than two-thirds of the children who ended up in the juvenile justice
system would not be there if they had received the appropriate mental
health interventions that they needed to develop normally. It is our
responsibility to see that each child has an optimal chance for a healthy
start in life."

Endorsers of the Call to Abolish include leaders in pediatrics, including
four winners of the American Academy of Pediatrics C. Anderson Aldrich
Award in Child Development: Dr. Leon Eisenberg, Dr. Karen Olness, Dr. T.
Berry Brazelton and Dr. Richmond; human brain development including: Dr.
Judith Rapoport of George Washington University, Dr. Charles Nelson of the
University of Minnesota, and Dr. Bruce McEwen of the Rockefeller
University and Past President of the Society for Neuroscience; and child
and adolescent psychiatry including Dr. Marilyn B. Benoit, immediate Past
President of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Organizations that have endorsed the Call to Abolish include: the American
Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Society for
Adolescent Psychiatry, the International Pediatric Association and various
state chapters of these national associations. Other medical organizations
that have lodged support for ending the juvenile death penalty include the
American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the
National Mental Health Association, the American Academy of Psychiatry and
the Law, the Society for Adolescent Medicine and the American Academy of
Pediatrics.

In their individual capacities, current and past leaders of the American
Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychiatric Association, the Society
for Adolescent Medicine, the Society for Neuroscience and chairs and
chiefs of pediatrics, neurology and psychiatry from dozens of leading
medical schools across the nation have also added their names to the Call
to Abolish. Their support demonstrates an unparalleled consensus within
the medical community that the death penalty for juveniles is
fundamentally unjust.

These health professionals and organizations do not seek to minimize or
excuse the offense of murder, and its impact on the victims' families, nor
say that juvenile offenders do not know right from wrong and should not be
punished. They hold that juveniles are less culpable than adults and
should not be subject to the ultimate level of punishment.

The Health Professionals' Call to Abolish also states that childhood
abuse, neglect and mental impairment can further diminish adolescents'
lesser cognitive and emotional capacities. These kinds of disturbances
inhibit natural growth and development and profoundly exacerbate the
existing vulnerabilities of youth.

"The limited brain capabilities of children confirm what behavioral
science has already shown: that kids are different and that they should
not be held to the same standard as adults. That is why I have joined
hundreds of doctors and the country's leading medical organizations in
opposing the juvenile death penalty," said Koop.


Contact: John Heffernan, 617-413-6407; jheffernan@phrusa.org
www.phrusa.org/juvenile_death_penalty/




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