Roper v. Simmons context

Prior to Roper v. Simmons, there was a noticeable presence of the execution of juveniles throughout the United States. However, most sentences had been reversed, which was an indication of growing discomfort with capital punishment for minors among judges.

‘‘The Missouri Supreme Court… held that since Stanford, ‘a national consensus has developed against the execution of juvenile offenders, as demonstrated by the fact that eighteen states now bar such executions for juveniles, that twelve other states bar executions altogether, that no state has lowered its age of execution below 18 since Stanford, that five states have legislatively or by case law raised or established the minimum age at 18, and that the imposition of the juvenile death penalty has become truly unusual over the last decade.’’’

~ Court Opinion of Justice Kennedy in Roper v. Simmons

Doebele, Connie. “Washington JournalC.” Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, 13 Oct. 2004.

“Age 16 and 17 are points in time when juveniles don’t necessarily exercise the best judgement, are more inclined to be guided by their peers and not exercise their own individual opinion about what should be done in a particular situation. The maturity level’s not quite there… It may seem arbitrary to say 18 is the bright line, but we need to draw it somewhere around the knowledge and the science of brain development… We know that it’s still evolving around ages 16 and 17.”

- Shay Bilchik, Child Welfare League of America

ATTITUDES CHANGE

At the turn of the century, a national consensus against capital punishment for crimes committed as a minor became evident through assertations by significant psychological organizations. Furthermore, differences in states' legislation concerning capital punishment developed a barrier across the nation that became a source of concern for advocates against the death penalty.

“Executions of juvenile offenders and defendants with mental retardation continued in 2000, especially in Texas, despite worldwide protests. Four defendants who were under 18 at the time of their crime were executed this year. The European Union, the American Bar Association, the American Association on Mental Retardation, and other human rights organizations made their strong objections to some of these executions known. At the 11th hour, the U.S. Supreme Court did halt the execution of John Paul Penry, a mentally retarded man from Texas.”

~ "The Death Penalty in 2000: Year End Report," Death Penalty Information Center

“A total of 226 juvenile death sentences were imposed from 1973 to 2005... Of the 155 sentences resolved, 22 (14%) resulted in execution and 133 (86%) had been reversed or commuted…

Of the death penalty jurisdictions in the United States (37 states), 19 jurisdictions have expressly chosen a minimum age of 18, 5 jurisdictions have chosen an age 17 minimum, and the other 14 death penalty jurisdictions use age 16 as the minimum age.”

~ Professor Victor L. Streib of Ohio State University, 2005

“Of the 39 executions of child offenders recorded by Amnesty International since 1990, 19 took place in the US. The other countries include Iran, China, Congo, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Yemen, but the US was the last government to condone and defend the practice officially. Iran has formulated a law banning such executions, but it has not yet been put into practice.”

~ Julian Borger of The Guardian, March 2005

"As in Atkins, the objective indicia of national consensus here—the rejection of the juvenile death penalty in the majority of States; the infrequency of its use even where it remains on the books; and the consistency in the trend toward abolition of the practice—provide sufficient evidence that today society views juveniles, in the words Atkins used respecting the mentally retarded, as “categorically less culpable than the average criminal." The evidence of such consensus is similar, and in some respects parallel, to the evidence in Atkins: 30 States prohibit the juvenile death penalty, including 12 that have rejected it altogether and 18 that maintain it but, by express provision or judicial interpretation, exclude juveniles from its reach. Moreover, even in the 20 States without a formal prohibition, the execution of juveniles is infrequent."

~ Roper v. Simmons Case Syllabus

Rimer, Sara. "In Similar Cases, One Inmate is Executed, One Wins Stay: Appeals were Based on Eighth Amendment." New York Times (1923-Current file), May 29, 2002, pp. 1. ProQuest, https://search-proquest-xaaa.orc.scoolaid.net/docview/92316723?accountid=699.

ROPER V. SIMMONS CONTEXT

A Brutal Crime

ATTITUDES CHANGE