Roper v. Simmons
Simmons committed murder when he was 17 years old and was sentenced to death. After his conviction was affirmed and post-conviction relief denied, he petitioned for relief on the ground that executing an individual for a crime he committed when under the age of 18 is cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the Eighth Amendment. The Supreme Court of Missouri ruled in favor of Simmons, setting aside his death sentence and resentencing him to life without parole. In 1989, the United States Supreme Court in Stanford v. Kentucky had decided that executing those who were 16 or 17 years old at the time of their crimes does not violate the Eighth Amendment. However, in 2002 the Supreme Court in Atkins v. Virginia held that a national consensus had emerged against the execution of mentally retarded offenders. Based on the reasoning in Atkins, the Missouri Supreme Court found that the national consensus against executions of juvenile offenders that was lacking in 1989 now exists. The Missouri court held that it was not bound by the Supreme Court’s decision because the Eighth Amendment must be interpreted “in a flexible and dynamic manner” based on current standards.
Questions Presented:
1.Once this Court holds that a particular punishment is not “cruel and unusual” and thus barred by the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, can a lower court reach a contrary decision
based on its own analysis of evolving standards?
2. Is the imposition of the death penalty on a person who commits a murder at age seventeen “cruel and unusual” and thus barred by the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments?
