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 * Adolescent Court Case Wiki Page: **
 * Roper v. Simmons **


 * Summary: **

Simmons committed a capital murder at age 17 in the state of Missouri, Simmons thought up a plan for murdering Shirley Crook. He brought along Charles Benjamin and John Tessmer into the plot. The three were to meet late one night, however John Tessmer dropped out of the plan. Simmons and Benjamin trespassed into Shirley Crooks house and drove her to a state park and threw her off a bridge. Once the case went to trial, the evidence was overwhelming. Simmons confessed to the murder, and Tessmer discussed the plan in advance and later bragged about the crime to other peers. The case worked its way up to the Supreme Court. In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court case of Atkins v. Virginia overturned the death penalty for the mentally retarded. And the Supreme Court of Missouri concluded that the execution of juvenile offenders was wrong. After much discussion the Supreme Court ruled that the line was drawn at the age of 18. The age 18 draws the line between minority and adulthood. During the Supreme Court trial, they ruled that cruel and unusual punishment to execute a person who was under the age of 18 was wrong. Justice Kennedy stated that juveniles have a lack of maturity and sense of responsibility compared to adults. Adolescents were more likely to commit reckless behavior and are more vulnerable to influences. Teens have less control, and are easily peer pressured. The Court also stated that only 6 out of 20 states that have capital punishments for juvenile offenders have executed someone. And only three states have done so in the past ten years. Justice Kennedy also noted that since 1990, United States was the only country who hasn’t abolished the death penalty for juveniles.
 * Defendant’s side: **


 * Outcome of the Case: **

The Supreme Court ruled that the line should be drawn at 18 years of age. The court declared the line between minority and adulthood was at 18. “ Standards of decency have evolved so that executing juvenile offenders who committed while younger than 18 is cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the Eighth Amendment” said Justice Anthony Kennedy of the Supreme Court.

This Court Case was well handled, but i feel that the Court let the murderers off too easy. The court responded by ruling that juveniles under the age of 18 should not be executed, and that it is considered cruel and unusual to have such a punishment. This case would have been dealt with completely different if the offenders had been older. The significance of this case revolved around the age of these offenders. I believe the outcome of this court case was correct but i sure hope they have a lot of correctional classes to attend.
 * How this relates to what we learned: **

References: Wikipedia,. (2009). the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. //Wikipedia//. Retrieved (2009, November 4) from [] (2004-2005, October 13-March 1). //Supreme Court case of the United States: Roper v. Simmons//. Retrieved from []