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Roper V. Simmons Case Summary

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This research paper is on a case study analysis of Roper vs. Simmons concerning the execution penalty on juveniles, by American Supreme Court in 2005. In this case, the Supreme Court was required to execute of a teen, aged 17 during the time the crime was committed. The supreme court of Missouri ruled that the penalty was unusual and cruel. Decision to withdraw the penalty of execution of Chris Simmons supporting that such a penalty to a juvenile criminal is acting against both the 8th and 14th amendments. According to the constitution, the eighth amendment applied to the state, and the fourteenth amendment prohibited the unusual and cruel punishments. This paper will study the case study of Roper Vs. Simmons in the juvenile death penalty and critical analysis of the Supreme court ruling. The article will also address various changes that have occurred as a result of this case with future suggestions of similar circumstances for the implementation of policies and court practices.
Case Background
Chris Simmons was only seventeen years old when he committed murder. Simmons planned with his friends how he would murder the victim by breaking into her house, robbing and typing the person up and finally throwing her down the bridge. Christopher urged his peers that they could avoid the charges because they …show more content…

Simmons and his friend used tape to cover the lady's mouth, eyes and binding her hands. They forcefully put her inside the car and drove to a state park, and on arrival at the railroad, Christopher with the help of his friend tied Mrs. Crook's feet and hands together using an electric wire. They dropped her alive down the bridge where she died from suffocation, or drowining. The next day Christopher was arrested, and claimed his Miranda rights, but he pleaded guilty to the crime where he was convicted of first-degree murder as an

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Christopher Simmons was a seventeen year old juvenile from Missouri whom in 1993 along with two of his friends, Charles Benjamin and John Tessmer, planned to rob and murder Shirley Crook in her home (Roper v. Simmons, 2004). On the night the crime was to be committed, Tessmer pulled out of the plan, and Simmons and Benjamin would continue on as planned. The two broke into the Ms. Crook’s home, robbed her, tied her up, covered up her eyes, then drove her to a state park and threw her off a bridge. During the trial, evidence, videotaped reenactment and testimony outlining the premeditated plan, allowed for the jury to easily convict Simmons of the crime. Even though Simmons had no previous criminal record and was a minor at the time the crime was committed,

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