Roper Vs Simmons Essay

The court case Roper vs Simmons was one of the most influential Supreme Court cases that dealt with the issue of whether or not juveniles should receive the death penalty if they were under the age of 18 at the time they committed the crime. In this case, Simmons and a group of his friends planned to commit a burglary and a murder. On the night of the crime, “Simmons and his two friends entered the home of Shirley Crook. Simmons recognized Crook from a car accident they were involved in before; he “later admitted to the police that “this confirmed his resolve to murder her.” Simmons and his friends tied Crook up and put her into the truck of her car. Then the defendants took her to a bridge and threw her off where she drowned. The day following the crime, the police came and arrested Simmons and his friends and charged them with burglary, kidnaping, stealing, and murder in the first degree.” (Roper v Simmons-No. 03–633. Supreme Court of Missouri. 1 Mar. 2005. Print.). The jury found Simmons guilty and sentenced him to

The Supreme Court prohibits juveniles to be executed if they are under the age of 18 when they commit a crime. The Supreme Court uses the cases of Thompson v Oklahoma and Stanford v Kentucky to support the issue that it is immoral and inhumane to give the death penalty to juveniles. Atkins v Virginia allows the Court to look at the evolution of the standard of decency on the issue of juveniles of the death penalty and what kind of people are excluded from receiving the death sentences. Juveniles also should not be given the death penalty because the neural connections and functioning for tasks such as decision-making, judgment, and impulse control in the brain has not yet fully developed and therefore, juveniles commit certain acts and are less aware of the