What Makes an Action Moral?
On October 21, 2002, the United States Supreme Court refused (via a slim 5-4 margin) to change our nation’s policy on the death penalty for juveniles who committed homicide when they were under the age of 18. The minority opinion was that the death penalty should not be allowed for “young murderers.” Justice John Paul Stevens, one of the four justices who thought that the Court should reconsider the death sentence for juveniles, wrote that, “The practice of executing such offenders is a relic of the past and is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency in a civilized society.” 1 The words of Justice Stevens are almost ethereal. His words ring in our ears and give us pause to ponder the greatness and advancement of our society. Yet, at the same time, we must connect the deliberation of the Justice with the facts of the crime record. The case presented involved Kevin Stanford, who was sentenced to death for abducting, sodomizing, and killing a 20-year-old gas station attendant when
