ipl-logo

Supreme Trial Of Christopher Simmons

2281 Words10 Pages

On the morning of September 9th, 1993, around 2 a.m. Christopher Simmons and his friends Charles Benjamin and John Tessmer (who he convinced to do it because he said that they could get away with it because they are minors) met together and headed to the victim's house but Tessmer left before the other two could carry out their sinister deed. While Simmons and his accomplice may have gotten away with it, one day later a fisherman recovered the deceased victims’ body in the river and her husband came home from an overnight trip the same day to find that his bedroom was a wreck and his wife was missing. The next day, after learning about his (Simmons) involvement, arrested him at his highschool and read him his miranda rights. 17 year old Christopher …show more content…

Since Simmons was 17 at the time, he was far from the jurisdiction of the states’ juvenile court system. Because of this, he was tried as an adult. At the trial, a videotaped confession was shown as was a reenactment of the crime, along with a testimony with Simmons bragging about the kill. During the trial, the defense called no witnesses so it was straight to the verdict.With all of the overwhelming evidence, he was sentenced to death. But the supreme court of missouri appealed the sentence.
Because the supreme court of missouri appealed the sentence, the supreme court eventually heard the case. Which brought the case all of the publicity/popularity that it has now. Eventually, in a 5-4 opinion, delivered by Justice Anthony Kennedy in March 2005, The supreme court ruled that Christopher Should not have been charged with death as an adolescent/minor. They ruled this because it was deemed as “ Cruel and Unusual Punishment” and was a violation of the eighth …show more content…

It also shows that brains aren’t fully developed at seventeen years old. It also shows both sides of the argument. And while it may show that Simmons’ brain was not fully developed, he still was guilty of murder.

In the APA’s article,Adolescent development and severity of criminal punishment, they explain adolescent brain development. Psychologist Laurence Steinburg states that “before the age of 18, brains are not fully developed” and because of this, kids younger than 18 tend to make irrational decisions. Steinburg also argues that “even though adolescents can distinguish right from wrong, that doesn’t mean that they will still make rational decisions. Studies have shown that the brain does not fully develop until the mid twenties. Steinburg also argues that adolescents also struggle with peer pressure.

This source shows that the brain does not fully develop until the mid twenties, causing irrational decisions. It also shows how peer pressure plays a big part in teenagers decisions. It also states that teens tend to commit crimes in groups. It also states that if someone can’t make rational decisions, they should not be held to the law as a regular

Show More
Related
466 Words | 2 Pages

The jury only took 35 minutes to convict Sullivan. Even though there was no physical or biological evidence linking Sullivan to the crime, as well as the lack of testimony from the victim, who was unable to identify her attacker; poor Sullivan was sentenced to life without parole (Agyepong, children left behind

Read More
564 Words | 3 Pages

Christopher Simmons at age 17 (1993) purposed a plan to murder Shirley Crook. To do so, he brought two other younger friends (Tessmer and Benjamin) into the murder plan to help him. The plan was to commit burglary and murder by breaking and entering, tying up the victim, and throwing her off a bridge to her death. He told both his friends that they would “get away with it” because they were minors. The three met up in the middle of the night to complete the plan; however Tessmer dropped out leaving Benjamin and Simmons, and the two still went through with the crime.

Read More
497 Words | 2 Pages

Due to Simmons’ age, he was outside of the “criminal jurisdiction of Missouri’s juvenile court system” and was tried as an adult (Cornell University, n.d.). During the trial, the state showed the evidence of the videotaped confession and reenactment as well as evidence of him bragging about what he did. It is important to know that the defense did not call one witness during the trial.

Read More
1284 Words | 6 Pages

At the age of 17, Christopher Simmons planned and pursued his plan of kidnapping, tying up, and throwing his neighbor, Shirley Crook off of a bridge. Missouri attorneys claim that Simmons boasted about his plan of killing his neighbor. Thinking that he could get away with it because he was only 17 years old, which is not fair. But other attorneys claim that Simmons should not get the death penalty because it violates the 8th amendment. Considering Simmons still committed murder and put the innocent women to a cruel death, he should have been given the death penalty.

Read More
313 Words | 2 Pages

Rhetorical Precis “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” The author Paul Thompson in the article, “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains,” explains that teen brains losses brain tissues in the areas of controlling impulses, risk-taking, and self-control, showing that teens are not yet adults, and the legal system (court system) should treat them as such. Thompson supports his argument by first describing a crime that a young teen did, Brazill of thirteen years killed his teacher on a middle-school without real intentions to kill him, but the jurors found guilty Brazill and they treat him as an adult in the sense of punishment. Many people protested against this unfair action saying that "A child is not a man." He then shows some searches about

Read More
470 Words | 2 Pages

In the case of Roper v. Simmons, Christopher Simmons, a 17-year-old, was sentenced to death for murder. Before the crime was committed, Simmons shared his plan of wanting to murder someone by breaking into a home, tying up a victim and throwing them off the bridge. Later on, Christopher Simmons and Charles Benjamin, broke into the home of Mrs. Crook, while her husband was not there. Upon entering the house, Simmons and Benjamin used duct tape to cover the eyes and mouth of the victim and tied her hands together. As time progressed, both Simmons and Benjamin, transported her in a minivan to a railroad trestle, which is where they threw Mrs. Crook off the bridge to her death.

Read More
650 Words | 3 Pages

The frontal tubes can hinder the violent passions, rash actions, and regulate teens emotions throughout the years. Meaning that teenagers aren’t adults yet. Another reason why teens shouldn’t be charge as an adult is because teens commit crimes without thinking what they are doing and they’re still kids. Teenagers make mistakes because they are young and stupid. Some of the teenagers don’t deserve to go to jail and get charge as an adult.

Read More
384 Words | 2 Pages

In the beginning years of adulthood most would think they've finally reached a mature age so that they'd make more appropriate decisions in life. New research shows most young adults still have underdeveloped brains, "The predicted age of fully development is determined to be 25" Says Justin McNaull author of "Age of Responsibility". Even some cannot mature in time for adulthood it's based on how developed your brain really is, this gives an unfair advantage to those who process things much faster and in this case can mean life or death. Immaturity is said to be popular in kids, teens, and young adults, but why adults? This may be because there still transitioning from the brain functionality of a teen, many people disagree by claiming alcohol

Read More
582 Words | 3 Pages

In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that it is immoral to give juveniles life sentences, even if they commit a crime as serious as murder, because it is a cruel and unusual punishment. This has been an issue in America as teenagers are often treated as adults in court due to a belief that their crimes warrant a harsh punishment. Many believe that these kids should not be given such major sentences because they are still immature and do not have the self control that adults do. I agree that juveniles do not deserve life sentences because they put less thought and planning into these crimes and they often are less malicious than adults. The article “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” explains that the teenagers lose brain tissue that is responsible for self control and impulses (Thompson 7).

Read More
472 Words | 2 Pages

Our frontal lobe will not be fully developed until our early twenties hence the legal age limit for alcohol consumption, higher doses of medicine, voting ages, etc., are put into place. Adolescents are not mentally mature enough to be able to maintain

Read More
846 Words | 4 Pages

Teens should be considered adults at age 25. “The brain doesn’t fully mature at age 16 or 18 when you can drive and vote, or at 21 when you can drink alcohol, but at 25,” (Steinberg 236,,). This means that teens don’t make adult decisions until they have already been driving, voting and drinking for at least 5 years. “963,000 teen drivers were involved in car crashes during 2013, out of those teens 383,000 were injured and 2,865 were killed,” (Teen Driver Source). The crash rate for teens is 4 times higher than it is for drivers between the age of 25-69.

Read More
827 Words | 4 Pages

People will oppose to this law, but at the age of 18 an adolescent's brain is not fully developed yet. Underage drinking is a common action in today’s society. What kids do not know is the effect that underage drinking has on their brain. Since the brain is not fully developed at the age of 18, drinking

Read More
1012 Words | 5 Pages

The case was quite controversial as there was blatant evidence that his actions were premeditated , yet he was still a minor. However, the unique circumstances of his upbringing could have acted

Read More
1123 Words | 5 Pages

Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson developed Routine Activity Theory. Routine Activity Theory is where children commit delinquent or criminal acts when there are no capable guardians, when they find suitable targets and limited activities for them to take part in. Children ultimately weigh in the risks and decide whether or not they commit a crime. A person can be influenced by the interaction of these three variables: finding targets, not having guardians around and the presence of people willing to commit a crime (Welsh and Siegel,64).

Read More
539 Words | 3 Pages

Introduction We have 15 and 16 year olds not able to drive cars, yet we will classify them as adults and lock them away in prison for life without parole. New aged teens have brains that are growing and developing constantly. In fact, in adolescence the brain does a lot of pruning, or rather throwing out information that is not being exercised, which consequently loses brain tissue in the areas that control impulses, self-control and risk-taking. Even with this considered, teens are given no mercy and will be locked away before they even finish puberty. However, many see certain crimes too punishable and do not wish to coddle a kid and let them get away with things such as murder.

Read More

More about Supreme Trial Of Christopher Simmons

Related Topics

Open Document