Gates Opposes Death Penalty for Juveniles

While declaring that gang members of all ages kill without emotion or conscience, Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates said Sunday that he does not think juvenile murderers should be subject to the death penalty.

“I do not think we ought to be executing people under the age of 18,” Gates said in a brief interview on the nationally televised ABC program, “This Week with David Brinkley.”

Instead, Gates said, he advocates lengthy prison terms for youthful killers, including life sentences without possibility of parole for those convicted of brutal, premeditated murders.

Gates said he believes in the death penalty but agrees with California law, which restricts death sentences to adults.

Appearing on a program dealing with the death penalty, Gates said gang members as young as 12 have been involved in Los Angeles murders. The very young are sometimes chosen to commit murders, he added, precisely because they face less severe penalties than older gang members.

Gates, calling gang killers extremely vicious, said they are driven by a “sociopathic” mentality.

In recent months, the chief has often spoken out on the gang-related violence that has made street killings a routine occurrence in some sections of the city.

Testifying at a criminal justice hearing last week, he suggested that unused military bases be renovated to house convicted gang members.

He urged that assault rifles--increasingly favored by gangs--should be banned, and he called for establishment of a Peace Corps-style program to provide job training and education for inner-city youth.

The Police Department has mounted regular gang sweeps, and Gates estimated that about half of the 9,000 gang-related arrests made this year involve individuals under the age of 18.