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CNN Live Sunday
Should States Be Able to Execute Juveniles?
Aired March 02, 2003 - 18:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Should states be able to execute juveniles? Here's CNN's Jeanne Meserve.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I zigged and zagged through parking lots.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I remember my 5-year-old daughter had to have police escorts to take her into preschool.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The sniper slayings not only changed lives, they crystallized opinions when a juvenile, Malvo, was arrested and charged. John Tuell's reaction...
JOHN TUELL, CHILD WELFARE LEAGUE: Oh, no because we're going to have to confront this issue of the imposition of the death penalty for juvenile offenders and this may inflame an otherwise what I think is becoming a more rational discussion about the issue.
MESERVE: With one sniper shooting just a few miles from his house, Tuell who has worked against the death penalty for juveniles found his views tested but in the end intact. He discounts the death penalty's deterrent effects and says that teens can not make judgments the way adults can.
TUELL: When we choose to apply the ultimate sanction of death to those who are still in a mode of developing those skills, I think it's an unfair practice.
MESERVE: Mike Flynn (ph) couldn't disagree more because of the magnitude and the premeditated nature of the sniper crimes. A Washington advocate for the death penalty, he points out that Malvo was only months away from 18 when the shootings took place.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But when you create an act of terror, these heinous acts which show just complete disregard for human life, I think you do have to face the ultimate punishment.
MESERVE: Though 22 states allow capital punishment for crimes committed at ages 16 or 17, only a handful have actually carried out executions. Virginia is one. Its record, one reason it was chosen as the venue for Malvo's prosecution.
PAUL EBERT, PROSECUTOR: The death penalty is reserved for the worst of the worst and I think from the evidence that all of you are aware of over the last month or so, these folks qualify. MESERVE (on camera): Polls show the majority of Americans oppose juvenile executions but Malvo's fate will be in the hands of 12 jurors whose opinions like those of Mike Flynn and John Tuell may have been shaped or changed by the rampage of killings last autumn.
Jeanne Meserve CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired March 2, 2003 - 18:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Should states be able to execute juveniles? Here's CNN's Jeanne Meserve.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I zigged and zagged through parking lots.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I remember my 5-year-old daughter had to have police escorts to take her into preschool.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The sniper slayings not only changed lives, they crystallized opinions when a juvenile, Malvo, was arrested and charged. John Tuell's reaction...
JOHN TUELL, CHILD WELFARE LEAGUE: Oh, no because we're going to have to confront this issue of the imposition of the death penalty for juvenile offenders and this may inflame an otherwise what I think is becoming a more rational discussion about the issue.
MESERVE: With one sniper shooting just a few miles from his house, Tuell who has worked against the death penalty for juveniles found his views tested but in the end intact. He discounts the death penalty's deterrent effects and says that teens can not make judgments the way adults can.
TUELL: When we choose to apply the ultimate sanction of death to those who are still in a mode of developing those skills, I think it's an unfair practice.
MESERVE: Mike Flynn (ph) couldn't disagree more because of the magnitude and the premeditated nature of the sniper crimes. A Washington advocate for the death penalty, he points out that Malvo was only months away from 18 when the shootings took place.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But when you create an act of terror, these heinous acts which show just complete disregard for human life, I think you do have to face the ultimate punishment.
MESERVE: Though 22 states allow capital punishment for crimes committed at ages 16 or 17, only a handful have actually carried out executions. Virginia is one. Its record, one reason it was chosen as the venue for Malvo's prosecution.
PAUL EBERT, PROSECUTOR: The death penalty is reserved for the worst of the worst and I think from the evidence that all of you are aware of over the last month or so, these folks qualify. MESERVE (on camera): Polls show the majority of Americans oppose juvenile executions but Malvo's fate will be in the hands of 12 jurors whose opinions like those of Mike Flynn and John Tuell may have been shaped or changed by the rampage of killings last autumn.
Jeanne Meserve CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
