Clinton ble valgt.
Det første eksemplet er Rep. Jim Pitt's forslag til løsning på probematikken med ungdomsvold Det andre eksempelet er et forandringen i staten Texas' lovgivning som åpner for at alderen senkes fra 17 til 16 år for å kunne bli idømt dødsstraff.
På grunn av at det er konstitusjonsstridig å idømme et individ som var under 16 år da forbrytelsen ble begått til døden, måtte Rep. Jim Pitts moderere seg til å komme med et forslag der alderen senkes fra 17 til 16.
Forslaget ble vedtatt i januar i år.
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Kilde: Dallas Morning News og Rick Halperin AI Texas:
"TEXAS; Nov. 10, 1998
Numerous lawmakers are pushing to increase criminal penalties.
Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, who created a national debate earlier this year by saying children as young as 11 should be subject to the death penalty, filed a bill yesterday that does not go so far.
His bill, prompted by 2 youngsters who opened fire on classmates in Jonesboro, Ark., would lower capital punishment eligibilty in Texas from 17 to 16.
Another crime, the Jasper dragging death of James Byrd, led Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, to file a bill to provide the death penalty for a homicide based on a hate crime. 3 white men are charged in the death of Mr. Byrd, a black man."
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Pitts' måtte motvillig trekke forslaget om å forandre loven slik den er. I Texas er minumumsalder for å kunne få dødsstraff 17 år. Forslaget hans om å senke denne alderen til 16 år gikk derimot gjennom i januar i år. Forslaget til Jim Pitts var slik:
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D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the age at which a person may be punished by death for
1-3 a capital offense.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 8.07(c), Penal Code, is amended to read
1-6 as follows:
1-7 (c) No person may, in any case, be punished by death for an
1-8 offense committed while he was younger than 16 [17] years.
1-9 SECTION 2. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-10 (b) This Act applies only to conduct that occurs on or after
1-11 the effective date of this Act. Conduct violating the penal law of
1-12 this state occurs on or after the effective date of this Act if any
1-13 element of the violation occurs on or after that date.
1-14 (c) Conduct that occurs before the effective date of this
1-15 Act is governed by the law in effect at the time the conduct
1-16 occurred, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-17 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
1-18 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-19 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-20 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-21 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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Turid Sandberg Jacobsen