Roper v. Simmons
| Roper v. Simmons | ||||
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| Negotiated October 13, 2004 |
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| Decided March 1, 2005 |
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| facts | ||||
| Certiorari to clarify the question of whether the death penalty can be imposed on child offenders. | ||||
| decision | ||||
| The death penalty for child offenders in violation of the 8th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States enshrined prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment ( cruel and unusual punishment ) and is therefore unconstitutional . The earlier decision in the Stanford v. Kentucky was repealed. | ||||
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| Applied Law | ||||
| 8. Amendment to the United States Constitution |
Roper v. Simmons is on a trial in the United States Supreme Court regarding the use of the death penalty for child offenders.
background
In 1993, a Missouri jury found 17-year-old Christopher Simmons guilty of the murder of Shirley Crook. Simmons broke into Crook's house with an accomplice , bound and gagged his victim and thrown from a bridge in a defenseless state. Despite the mitigating circumstances - Simmons had no criminal record and confessed - the court sentenced the court to the death penalty in light of the circumstances . However, after several previously unsuccessful appeals, the Missouri State Supreme Court ruled that there was now a nationwide consensus not to impose the death penalty on underage offenders. This is unconstitutional under the 8th Amendment to the United States Constitution . The prosecution appealed the decision to the United States Supreme Court , which accepted the case for final judgment.
judgment
With a majority of five of the nine judges' votes, the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty for underage offenders was unconstitutional. When assessing the constitutionality of a punishment, changes in social attitudes towards its appropriateness ( evolving standards of decency ) should be taken into account. A large majority of the state parliaments reject the death penalty for underage offenders. In almost all other countries in the world, no death sentences are carried out against minors. Apart from the United States , only the Islamic Republic of Iran , Pakistan , Saudi Arabia , Yemen , Nigeria , the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the People's Republic of China have executed child criminals since 1990 . In view of these developments, the death penalty for minors was so inadequate that it should be viewed as a cruel and unusual punishment.