RICHMOND--What does Virginia have in common with Iran, Somalia and Sudan?
They all allow executions for crimes committed by juveniles.
Legislation submitted this year by Del. Vincent Callahan, R-McLean, and Sen. Patricia Ticer, D-Alexandria, would remove Virginia from that list by saying that juveniles who murder someone cannot be sentenced to death for their crimes.
"There's something fundamentally wrong with a society that executes children," Callahan said.
Supporters of the bills held a news conference yesterday to bring attention to the issue.
Speakers pointed out that studies of adolescents' brains show that their ability to make decisions and control impulses is not fully developed.
"Adolescents are not adults," said Jack Payden-Travers, director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. "If they are not old enough to vote, to drink alcoholic drinks, to enter into contracts, to participate in combat, how come they are old enough to be executed?"
Del. Al Eisenberg, D-Arlington, who has signed on to Callahan's bill, said, "Anybody that has teenage children knows on a daily basis how bad their judgment can be."
Eisenberg said the United States, by allowing people to be executed for crimes committed as juveniles, is in the company of "dictator and rogue countries" such as Sudan and Somalia.
Payden-Travers said that Virginia has executed 21 juvenile offenders since 1787. Of those, 19 were black.
Only six states, including Virginia, still allow people to be executed for crimes committed when they were juveniles, Payden-Travers said. Virginia is second only to Texas in the number of juveniles it has executed.
However, Payden-Travers said the tide is turning against the imposition of the death penalty on juveniles.
"Increasingly, juries across the nation, like the Chesapeake jury of Lee Boyd Malvo in 2003, are not willing to put young offenders to death," Payden-Travers said.
Malvo, one of the two Beltway snipers who terrorized motorists in the fall of 2002, was convicted in two shootings in Spotsylvania County. He was 17 at the time of the shooting.
Malvo entered Alford pleas to charges of capital murder of Philadelphia businessman Kenneth Bridges and the attempted capital murder of Caroline Seawell of Spotsylvania.
He was sentenced to two life terms in prison by Circuit Judge William H. Ledbetter Jr.
The U. S. Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling on juvenile death penalty cases, Payden-Travers said. But, he added, that shouldn't let legislators off the hook.
"Regardless of the pending decision, Virginia needs to go on the record as being opposed to the juvenile death penalty," Payden-Travers said.
Asked whether this year's gubernatorial and House of Delegates elections will make legislators more or less likely to support this legislation, Payden-Travers said the elections "don't play a part in our schedule."
However, the death penalty issue is playing a part in the elections. Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor, is proposing expanding the crimes to which the death penalty can be applied.
Payden-Travers called it "an abomination that we have an attorney general running for governor who has chosen to use the death penalty as a platform on which to run."
He noted that the twin bills have bipartisan support, and hopes to get 30 lawmakers to sign on to them, which would be an improvement over the 25 co-patrons similar legislation had last year.
Last year's bill died in the House Courts of Justice committee.
"We think times are changing," Payden-Travers said.
Legislators who support the death penalty in general appear willing to at least consider removing it as an option for juvenile offenders.
Callahan himself said he still supports the death penalty for adults.
Del. Bobby Orrock, R-Spotsylvania, said he also supports the death penalty for adult offenders but might consider supporting Callahan's bill.
To reach CHELYEN DAVIS: 804/782-9362 cdavis@freelancestar.com