Maclin Horton has some interesting commentary on the recent Supreme Court decision that we can't execute people for crimes committed when they were under eighteen. Horton is bothered not by the ruling, but by the reasoning behind it and the reaction (or lack of reaction) to it.
My question--of the ruling, not Horton's commentary--is if it is wrong, as Justice Kennedy would have it, to execute young criminals before they've had a chance to attain a mature realization of their own humanity (or come to actualize their personhood or some such twaddle), why can't we just keep them in prison for a few years until they've had a chance to do that and then kill 'em? I'd think spending a few years thinking about your own imminent demise would mature your understanding quite a bit.
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