Brenna+Kirk+2A

Roper V. Simmons No. 03-633.Argued October 13, 2004--Decided March 1, 2005

At the age of 17 Roper Simmons planned to murder Shirley Crook. The case took place in Missouri, in the year of 1993. He brought two accomplices Charles Benjamin and John Tessmer into the plot. They had planned to break and enter in order to commit burglary and murder. They planned to tie up the victim, Shirley Crook, and then throw the victim off of the bridge. The three met in the middle of the night, but John Tessmer ended up dropping out. So Simmons and Benjamin broke into Mrs. Crook’s home and, bound her hands, covered her eyes, then drove her off of a state park and threw her off of a bridge.


 * Prosecutors View ** : The evidence against Roper was overwhelming. Roper Simmons pleaded guilty, and even created a video reenactment for the jury. There was also a testimony from Tessmer that proved premeditation. The jury came back with a guilty sentence. Because of all of the evidence, mitigating factors were ignored and the jury recommended the death sentence for Simmons.


 * Adolescent View ** : Simmons point of views wasn’t really taken into consideration because of the fact that he pleaded guilty. There was no need to build a large case against Simmons because he was admitting to the crime. The evidence was there, it was proven and accepted by the jury. That is why the death sentence was suggested so easily by the court.


 * Ruling ** : The outcome of the case ended up becoming a long drawn out case that made its way up to the Supreme Court. After Simmons was found guilty, he appealed and proceeded to write a petition for post conviction relief. He argues that the Constitution prohibits punishment by death for someone who was under the age of 18 when the crime was committed. In reality this is up to the interpretation of the reader. There are 37 states that permit the death penalty, a 22 of those states permit the death penalty for minors. According to some people the 8th amendment prohibits Capitol Punishment on minors. In 202 in a Supreme Court ruling, in Atkins Virginia, concluded that "a national consensus has developed against the execution of juvenile offenders". Simmons was in turn sentenced to a life I prison without parole.

I believe that the final ruling was indeed fair. With a few exceptions, I do not believe in Capitol Punishment, and especially do not believe in the death penalty for someone who was a minor when the crime was committed. To relate this to our adolescence justice unit, I would say that this relates to my opinion that adolescents should be treated more as adults. Roper Simmons is now serving a life I prison, and for taking someone life that is what he rightfully deserved.


 * References:**

Stanford, Thomas. (2009). Roper v. Simmons. //Wikepedia//. Retrieved (2009, November 13) from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roper_v._Simmons

The Oyez Project, Roper v. Simmons ,  543 U.S. 551 (2005) available at: ([|http://oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2004/2004_03_633]) (last visited Friday, November 13, 2009)

Farris, M. (2005, March). //The Court report//. Retrieved from http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.hslda.org/CourtReport/V21N2/V21N2021.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.hslda.org/CourtReport/V21N2/V21N202.asp&usg=__moqcZG5jzDOZDK3g55U51929t0U=&h=289&w=376&sz=30&hl=en&start=7&tbnid=YpLhkoQUn46ZmM:&tbnh=94&tbnw=122&prev=/images%3Fq%3Droper%2Bsimmons%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive

[]

Farris, M. (2005, March). //The Court report//. Retrieved from http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.hslda.org/CourtReport/V21N2/V21N2021.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.hslda.org/CourtReport/V21N2/V21N202.asp&usg=__moqcZG5jzDOZDK3g55U51929t0U=&h=289&w=376&sz=30&hl=en&start=7&tbnid=YpLhkoQUn46ZmM:&tbnh=94&tbnw=122&prev=/images%3Fq%3Droper%2Bsimmons%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive