Gov. Jay Nixon has signed two criminal justice measures designed to bring Missouri into compliance with U.S. Supreme Court rulings.
One clarifies language for use of deadly force and the other adds a sentencing option for juvenile murderers. We have no complaint with either bill and recognize the necessity of both.
The deadly force bill adds language to Missouri law that brings the state into agreement with a 1985 U.S. Supreme Court decision. The court ruled police may not shoot at a fleeing person unless the officer reasonably believes the person poses a significant physical danger to the officer or others in the community.
Missouri law previously did not include the provision specifying an officer must believe the person fleeing is a danger.
A second measure provides juveniles convicted of first-degree murder with new sentencing options - life with the possibility of parole or 30-40 years imprisonment.
Previously, the crime was punishable only by the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled execution is unconstitutional for juvenile murderers.
Seven years later, the court in 2012 ruled life without parole similarly is unconstitutional as the only available punishment for juveniles.
The ruling permits a sentence of life without parole for juvenile killers if another sentencing option is available, and the law signed by the governor preserves that option in Missouri if jurors agree unanimously that prosecutors proved additional factors, such as torture of the victim.
A provision of the law also requires courts to instruct jurors to consider other factors, including the defendant's background, likelihood of rehabilitation and peer pressure.
U.S. Supreme Court rulings may not always be popular, but they establish the law of the land.
Missouri's compliance with these two rulings is not only overdue, it is the right thing to do.