Christopher Lee Simmons Essay

American society has always wrestled with the concept and ethics of capital punishment. Despite the meticulous process involved when convicting someone, there are many questions and exceptions about who qualifies and the process in and of itself, as to be expected when dealing with something so profound and permanent. What if the accused is mentally ill? What if the perpetrator committed the crime when defending someone else? What if the convicted is innocent, but still put to death? While we more or less have an answer to these questions today, a mere decade ago, we did not. The process of finding these answers was a challenging one, being argued and discovered through court of law and trial and error. One such question was incredibly difficult

He was victim to an abusive homelife. His stepfather would often shout and intimidate him. He also was seen physically hitting and ignoring Simmons, with his mother being too scared to act in his defense, leading Simmons to question if he had anyone who would advocate for him. This abuse is what many believe started his history of drug abuse/dependency and potential mental illness, as well as what caused him to commit numerous crimes throughout his life (Blanco). Simmons and his friends Charles Benjamin and John Tessmer planned to rob and murder their victim by breaking and entering, tying them up, and throwing them off a bridge. That victim would become Shirley Crook, a loving 46 year old mother, sister, and soon to be grandmother (Blanco). The three met up late at night on September 9, 1993, where Tessmer would leave the plan. However, Simmons and Benjamin would follow through, leaving Shirley Crook to drown and be found the next day by fishermen. The following day, Simmons was quickly arrested and was soon found guilty with overwhelming evidence, including a taped recreation and a confession from Simmons himself (Blanco). The jury recommended the death sentence and the court imposed. Simmons first moved for the courts to remove the both the conviction and sentence, believing he had ineffective counseling due to his troubled past and underdeveloped brain not being mentioned

Director of Justice Reform and the MacArthur Foundation, as well as Christopher Simmons advocate Laurie Garduque reminiscences on the disregard for criminal juveniles during that time: “As concern about increasing juvenile crime peaked, we were alarmed at the wave of harsh juvenile justice reform sweeping the country that blurred lines between adults and juveniles… Existing research did not address the legal implications of adolescent developmental immaturity with respect to competency, culpability, and capacity for change” (“Roper v. Simmons Ten Years Later”). A similar sentiment was shared with Columbia Law School professor Elizabeth Scott, who recalled the conditions for criminal youth in the early 1990’s, asserting that “...attitudes about juvenile crime became more punitive, and it was clear that lawmakers weren’t focusing on developmental differences between teens and adults or how immaturity might contribute to juvenile offending” (“Roper v. Simmons Ten Years Later”). There are a myriad of scary commonalities between these anecdotes, such as the legal disregard for youths despite their underdeveloped brains. There are many factors that make adolescent minds susceptible to committing crimes. Juvenile brains are much more likely to submit to peer-pressure and to engage in rash decision making (“Juvenile Justice & the Adolescent Brain”). The Massachusetts General