Christopher Simmons Death Penalty For Juveniles

In September 1993 Christopher Simmons who was at the time seventeen years old, discussed his wish to burglarize and murder someone. Simmons had even described the manner in which he would kill, he would throw someone from a bridge. Simmons also believed that if arrested he would get away with it because he was a juvenile. On September 8th, 1993 after meeting a friend’s house, Simmons and his friend Charlie Benjamin broke into Shirley Crook’s house. They entered through an open window in the back. Crook was home alone and alerted to the burglar’s presence when a hallway light was turned on. Simmons found Crook in her bedroom and ordered her to the floor. While Benjamin guarded Crook Simmons looked for something to secure Crook. He found duct tape, and her hands were taped together behind her back with her eyes and mouth also covered in duct tape. Simmons then walked Crook to her minivan where she was placed into the back. Simmons then drove the van to a railroad trestle in a local state park. When they arrived Simmons discovered that Crook had removed her restraints and some of the tape from her face. Simmons then found new material to secure Crook and bound her hands and feet in a hog tie style position with her face covered in a towel.

Merriam-Webster defines juvenile as physiologically immature or undeveloped or young. While the legal definition of juvenile is typically someone under the age of eighteen. I believe these definitions vary greatly. In these cases a seventeen year old is going to be more mature and know what they are doing in a criminal sense, when twelve year old may not. I believe that each crime or murder should be looked at independently. That then mere fact that a person is under eighteen should not exclude them from the potential of a death sentence. Each crime should to be examined for premeditation and the heinousness of the