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Juvenile Death Penalty |
Please note: The following document is not a product of the American Bar Association nor an expression of its policy; it is posted here in support of the ABA's policy that, "The American Bar Association opposes, in principle, the imposition of capital punishment upon any person for any offense committed while under the age of eighteen (18)." For questions about this document, please contact Walter Long or Benjamin Thorne, Friends Meeting of Austin.
For background information about Napoleon Beazley's case and the Joint Public Declaration of Sanctuary, please read the Declaration's Supporting Document.
Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church
Grapeland, Texas
Progressive Missionary Baptist Church
311 W. Oak
Crockett, Texas 75835
Friends Meeting of Austin
3014 Washington Square
Austin, Texas 78705
JOINT PUBLIC DECLARATION OF SANCTUARY
FOR NAPOLEON BEAZLEY AND ALL TEXAS JUVENILE
DEATH ROW INMATES
The Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church of Grapeland, Texas, the Progressive Missionary Baptist Church of Crockett, Texas, and the Friends Meeting of Austin (Quaker) hereby declare sanctuary 1 on behalf of Napoleon Beazley and the other 28 juveniles on death row in Texas. We call upon the State of Texas -- through its Executive,2 Courts, 3 and Legislature -- to abide by the law by ceasing to seek the death penalty against juveniles, by commuting the sentences of all Texas juveniles currently sentenced to death to life or a term of years, and by amending Section 8.07(c) of the Texas Penal Code to set the age of eligibility for the death sentence at 18 years old. 4
Progressive Missionary Baptist Church, Crockett, Texas; Rev. Harry Fred Scott, endorsed November 3, 2000.
Friends Meeting of Austin, Austin, Texas; Carolyn Kelley, Clerk, endorsed November 5, 2000.
Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, Grapeland, Texas; Rev. Jesse Clark, Pastor, endorsed November 19, 2000.
Napoleon Beazley has challenged his death sentence at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on the legal grounds asserted in the Joint Public Declaration which are explained at more length in the Supporting Document. (Beazley v. Johnson, No. 99-41382, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.) He has been joined in that appeal by the Human Rights Committee of the Bar of England and Wales, which has filed an amicus brief. The Fifth Circuit Panel has issued an opinion denying relief, and rehearing will be sought in the case.
Potential endorsers should read the lengthy Supporting Document that accompanies this Joint Public Declaration of Sanctuary. Endorsers are not asked to join in the Supporting Document, but they should become familiar with it, because it presents religious, historical, and legal reasons for the sanctuary declaration and contains valuable resource material.
In order to endorse the Joint Public Declaration of Sanctuary, organizations and individuals should fill out the relevant attached form and send it by mail, fax, or e-mail to Walter Long, 301 Congress Ave., Suite 1400, Austin, Texas 78701 (Phone: 512-469-5485; Fax: 512-474-2337; E-mail: wlong@smklaw.com).
Questions about the Joint Public Declaration of Sanctuary or its Supporting Document may be addressed to Walter Long (contact information above) or to Benjamin Thorne, Friends Meeting of Austin, 3014 Washington Square, Austin, Texas 78705 (Phone: 512-454-4749; E-mail: thornemb@hotmail.com).
Potential endorsing organizations (e.g., churches, synagogues, professional groups, and governmental entities) are respectfully asked to move toward endorsement and submit their endorsement forms (or the equivalent) as quickly as possible. An execution date could be set in Napoleon Beazley's case at any time.
See Below for the Two Endorsement Forms
ORGANIZATIONAL ENDORSEMENT OF THE
JOINT PUBLIC DECLARATION OF SANCTUARY
On this date, __________(date), I, ____________________ (name), ____________________ (position: e.g., pastor, priest, rabbi, president, clerk, chairperson) of ____________________ (organization), hereby endorse the Joint Public Declaration of Sanctuary for Napoleon Beazley and All Texas Juvenile Death Row Inmates on behalf of ____________________ (organization).
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Letters on letterhead conveying the above information are encouraged. Please send this form or the equivalent letter by mail, fax, or e-mail to Walter Long, 301 Congress Ave., Suite 1400, Austin, Texas 78701 (Phone: 512-469-5485; Fax: 512-474-2337; E-mail: wlong@smklaw.com).
JOINT PUBLIC DECLARATION OF SANCTUARY
On this date, __________ (date), I, __________(name), __________ (title if relevant), hereby individually endorse the Joint Public Declaration of Sanctuary for Napoleon Beazley and All Texas Juvenile Death Row Inmates.
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Letters on letterhead conveying the above information are encouraged. Please send this form or the equivalent letter by mail, fax, or e-mail to Walter Long, 301 Congress Ave., Suite 1400, Austin, Texas 78701 (Phone: 512-469-5485; Fax: 512-474-2337; E-mail: wlong@smklaw.com).
Click here for a printer friendly version of the Organizational or Individual Endorsement Forms.
Endnotes
1. "Sanctuary" refers to "protective community with people whose basic human rights are being violated by government officials. As a declared practice, it incorporates prophetic witness into protective community; that is, in addition to protecting the violated from the state, the public practice of sanctuary holds the state accountable for its violations of human rights." JIM CORBETT, THE SANCTUARY CHURCH, Pendle Hill Pamphlet No. 270 (1986), at 5-6. Although the concept of sanctuary for persons fleeing harsh punishment springs from religious tradition, the "community" offering protection embraces all individuals and communities respectful of fundamental human dignity and rights. Sanctuary within this context may be considered radically secular: it is marked by care for this world and the love of one's neighbor. [return to text]
2. The Executive includes the Governor, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, the Attorney General (the State's chief law enforcement officer), and all Texas District Attorneys. [return to text]
3. The Courts include Texas Criminal District Courts and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. [return to text]
4. A "juvenile" is defined for the purposes of this declaration as a person punished for an offense committed while under the age of 18 years old. Several treaties signed and/or ratified by the United States forbid Parties to sentence such persons to death:
(1) "[S]entence of death shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons below eighteen years of age and shall not be carried out on pregnant women"). INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS (1966), 6 I.L.M. 368, 370 (Article 6, Paragraph 5) (ratified by United States with an invalid reservation to Article 6, Paragraph 5).
(2) "No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman punishment. Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offenses committed by persons below eighteen years of age. . . ." UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD, G.A. Res. 1386 (XIV), 14 U.N. GAOR Supp. No. 16 at 19, U.N. Doc. A/4354 (1959) (Article 37(a)) (signed by United States without reservation). Every working government besides the United States has ratified or otherwise fully adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child, without reservation to its prohibition against the juvenile death penalty.
(3) "Capital punishment shall not be imposed upon persons who, at the time the crime was committed, were under 18 years of age or over 70 years of age . . . ." AMERICAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, Nov. 22, 1969, art. 4(5), I.L.M. 673, 676 (entered into force July 18, 1978) (Article 4(5)) (signed by United States without reservation).
(4) The United States has ratified one other treaty that prohibits the execution of persons under the age of 18 at the time of offense; however, that treaty only applies during wartime. GENEVA CONVENTION RELATIVE TO THE PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS IN TIME OF WAR, Aug. 12, 1949, art. 68, 6 U.S.T. 3516, 75 U.N.T.S. 287 (Article 68) (ratified by United States, but applicable only in time of war). In 1980, the United States was joint sponsor of a U.N. General Assembly resolution on summary execution describing, without any qualification, Article 6 of the International Covenant, above, as expressing a "minimum standard" for all member States, not just ratifying States. G.A. RES. 35/172, U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 48) at 195, U.N. Doc. A/35/48 (1980).
The ratified International Covenant preempts all Texas law that is inconsistent with its precepts because, through the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article 6, Section 2), it has the same status as a domestic law passed by Congress. Thus, Article 6, Paragraph 5 voids Section 8.07(c) of the Texas Penal Code, which allows the death penalty to be given to 17-year-olds.
The signed Child Covenant and American Convention also bind Texas to commute death sentences of all juveniles because, once the federal government has signed a treaty, the federal and state governments are "obliged to refrain from acts which would defeat the object and purpose of [the] treaty." VIENNA CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF TREATIES, May 23, 1969, 1155 U.N.T.S. 331, art. 18. The United States attached no reservation to the prohibitions against the juvenile death penalty in either signed treaty.
Finally, Texas is breaching a peremptory norm of international law by executing juveniles. The practice is condemned worldwide, and is much rarer than torture. [return to text]
Read the Sanctuary Declaration Supporting Document
consider Napoleon Beazley, a Texas juvenile death row inmate,
under their care.)
FOR NAPOLEON BEAZLEY AND ALL TEXAS JUVENILE
DEATH ROW INMATES
Signature
Street Address or P.O. Box Number
City
State/Province
Postal Code
Country
Telephone Number
E-mail address .
FOR NAPOLEON BEAZLEY AND ALL TEXAS JUVENILE
DEATH ROW INMATES
Signature
Street Address or P.O. Box Number
City
State/Province
Postal Code
Country
Telephone Number
E-mail address .
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