Roper V. Simmons Case Study

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Roper v. Simmons (2005) is a Supreme Court case that examines the use of capital punishment against juvenile offenders. At the age of seventeen, Christopher Simmons was given the death penalty for the murder of Shirley Crook in the first degree in 1997. Simmons then appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court in which the Missouri Supreme Court affirmed State v. Simmons in 1997. A writ of habeas corpus was also denied by the federal courts in 2001, determining his arrest and imprisonment legal. A writ of habeas corpus is often used a court of law to review the legality of a person’s arrest or imprisonment. After the Supreme Court took up Atkins v. Virginia in 2002, Simmons filed another appeal arguing that capital punishment against a minor was a …show more content…
Kentucky (1989), which allowed executions of juveniles in the age group of sixteen to eighteen years of age. Using the above arguments, the Missouri Supreme Court resentenced Simmons to life in prison without the chance of parole. The state then appealed the Missouri Supreme Court decision in Donald P. Roper, Superintendent, Potosi Correctional Center v. Christopher Simmons to the United States Supreme Court. The Court affirmed the decision of the Missouri Supreme Court, and ruled that the 8th and 14th Amendments “forbid imposition of the death penalty on offenders who were under the age of 18 when their crimes were committed” in 2005 (Roper v. Simmons). I agree with the Supreme Court’s decision to forbid capital punishment against minors, because minors are inherently immature and easily swayed by outside influences, because a minor’s brain is still developing and is unable to properly reason and make calculated decisions. A minor rarely has the maturity of an adult, and so cannot be judged as an adult’s equal in a court or be given a punishment that is fitting only of a mature