Justices argue over capital punishment for juvenile killers

A DEEPLY divided Supreme Court last night wrestled over allowing states to execute teenage killers, with several justices raising concerns that the United States is out of step with the rest of the world.

Nineteen states allow capital punishment for juveniles, and more than 70 people who committed crimes as 16- and 17-year-olds are on death row.

The question for the justices is whether those executions are unconstitutionally cruel, the latest step in the Supreme Court’s re-examination of capital punishment in America.