The Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005) is a landmark decision that was made by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court held that when a crime was committed by a juvenile below the age of 18 years old, the capital punishment cannot be imposed on them irrespective of the crime committed. Common crimes that demand capital punishment include espionage, murder, crimes against humanity, treason, war crimes and genocide. The decision was divided between 5 supporters and 4 dissenters (Norman, 2010). This decision was humane and ethical and I support it.
The majority supported the motion and upended statues in 25 states. The supporters argued that the imposition of the capital punishment on crimes committed when the offender was still a juvenile is a violation of their fourteenth and eighth amendment. The holding was affirmed by the supreme court of Missouri and overruled by the Stanford v. Kentucky. The dissenters on the other hand argued that only 18 out of the 38 states that legalized capital punishment on juveniles had prohibited the juveniles from execution. However, Justices Thomas and Scalia main argument focused on whether the execution of juvenile offenders was cruel and unusual. The dissenters also objected to the Supreme Court using international law to interpret the constitution (the Supreme Court in their holding stated that only the USA and Somalia had not ratified the Unitized Nations Convection on The Rights of The Child).
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I support this judgment because execution of juveniles is a violation of their eighth amendment which affirms protection against unusual and cruel punishment. Studies show that children lack the capacity to make important decisions including voting, marrying without the consent of an adult and other major life decisions. This means that it will be unethical to deny children the right to do all these constitutional rights that they have to be 18 years to claim and still punish them as you would an adult. Their maturity levels are still below average and therefore their execution will be inhumane, cruel and unusual.
If a juvenile offender who had been imprisoned before for a sexual crime was released earlier than his stated sentence, general or indirect deterrence should be applied. This deterrence form will act as an example for all the other deviants. For example, in the case study case, the person may have been released before the ten years are over and it was unconstitutional for him to be executed, and then a death sentence should be imposed immediately he deviates. This will show other juvenile offenders that just because they were not given capital punishment the first time then they will always be spared.
References
Norman, GVA. (2010). Physician participation in executions. Cambridge: Cambridge university press: 285- 291
