Boston Globe Editorial
August 18, 2001
Death At An Early Age
APOLEAN BEAZLEY WAS given a reprieve Wednesday, less than four hours from his scheduled execution, for a crime he committed when he was 17 - too young to vote, marry, drink, or serve on a jury, but not too young to receive the ultimate penalty. Even beyond the question of his age, however, Beazley's case is another good illustration of why it is not possible to administer the death penalty fairly.
Beazley, who is black, was convicted by an all-white jury of killing John Luttig, a white man, during a carjacking gone awry in 1994. Luttig was not just an ordinary white man, however; he was the father of a powerful federal judge. The younger Luttig is so connected in top legal circles that three members of the US Supreme Court found it necessary earlier this week to recuse themselves from considering a stay of execution in the case. (The remaining six members split 3-3, meaning that the execution was not stayed.) Luttig had clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia and advised Clarence Thomas and David Souter during their confirmation hearings.
Beazley also had the bad luck to be in Dallas at the time of the crime. Fifteen other states that have capital punishment - and the federal government - exempt anyone under age 18 at the time of the crime from execution. Texas, the top state for executions generally, also holds the record for executing juveniles - nine of the 17 put to death since 1973. Texas has by far the largest death row of juveniles: Twenty-six await execution there, a third of the nation's total.
The fact that Beazley faces death in Texas when the exact crime would get him a long prison sentence in New Mexico is a perfect illustration of the arbitrary nature of capital punishment. Beazley also fits the profile of a typical death row inmate in that he is black and he is poor - requiring legal representation provided by the state - and his victim was white.
Beazley's reprieve, issued by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, is hardly the last word. The local district attorney has vowed to press his case for the sentence, and Beazley still has a broader appeal before the Supreme Court on whether the US Constitution prohibits the execution of juveniles. The court seemed to settle that question in a 1988 Oklahoma case when it found that offenders above age 15 could be eligible for the death penalty. But earlier rulings by the court allow ''evolving standards of decency'' to be considered in setting death penalty law.
Only the United States refuses to abandon capital punishment for juveniles. Every other country with the penalty - including such rogue nations as Syria, Yemen, Cuba, Indonesia, and Russia - exempts juveniles from the executioner's blade. Currents of decency are running strong against capital punishment worldwide. Surely the United States should join.
Copyright © 2001, Boston Globe. All rights reserved.
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