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Roper V. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005) 125 S.Ct

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Roper V. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005) 125 S.Ct Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005) 125 S.Ct. 1183, 161 L.Ed.2d 1, 73 USLW 4153, 05 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 1735... Court must refer to evolving standards of decency that mark progress of maturing KeyCite Yellow Flag - Negative Treatment society when determining which punishments Declined to Extend by Johnson v. Stephens, 5th Cir.(Tex.), July 2, are so disproportionate as to be “cruel and 2015 unusual,” within meaning of Eighth Amendment 125 S.Ct. 1183 prohibition. U.S.C.A. Const.Amend. 8. Supreme Court of the United States 378 Cases that cite this headnote Donald P. ROPER, Superintendent, Potosi Correctional Center, Petitioner, [2] Sentencing and Punishment v. Narrowing Class of Eligible Offenders Christopher SIMMONS. Sentencing and Punishment Nature or Degree of Offense No. 03–633. | Argued Oct. 13, Capital punishment must be limited to those 2004. | Decided March 1, 2005. offenders who commit narrow category of most Synopsis serious crimes and whose extreme culpability Background: Defendant convicted after he turned 18 of makes them most deserving of execution. committing first-degree murder when he was 17, and sentenced to death, 944 S.W.2d 165, petitioned for writ of 267 Cases that cite this headnote habeas corpus. The Missouri Supreme Court, Laura Denvir Stith, J., 112 S.W.3d 397, granted relief. Certiorari was [3] Sentencing and Punishment granted. Aggravating or Mitigating Circumstances Sentencing and Punishment Aggravating Circumstances in General [Holding:] The Supreme Court, Justice Kennedy, held that State must give narrow and precise definition execution of individuals who were under 18 years of age to aggravating factors that can result in capital at time of their capital crimes is prohibited by Eighth and sentence. Fourteenth Amendments; abrogating Stanford v. Kentucky, 492 U.S. 361, 109 S.Ct. 2969, 106 L.Ed.2d 306. 24 Cases that cite this headnote [4] Sentencing and Punishment Affirmed. Factors Related to Offense Justice Stevens concurred and filed opinion in which Justice Sentencing and Punishment Ginsburg joined. Offender's Character in General In any capital case, defendant has wide latitude Justice O'Connor dissented and filed opinion. to raise as mitigating factor any aspect of his or her character or record and any circumstances Justice Scalia dissented and filed opinion in which Chief of offense that defendant proffers as basis for Justice Rehnquist and Justice Thomas joined. sentence less than death. 114 Cases that cite this headnote West Headnotes (5) [5] Constitutional Law Persons Eligible [1] Sentencing and Punishment Sentencing and Punishment Proportionality Juveniles © 2015 Thomson Reuters. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. 1 Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005) 125 S.Ct. 1183, 161 L.Ed.2d 1, 73 USLW 4153, 05 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 1735... Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments forbid 487 U.S. 815, 818–838, 108 S.Ct. 2687, 101 L.Ed.2d 702, a imposition of death penalty on offenders who plurality determined that national standards of decency did were under age of 18 when their crimes were not permit the execution of any offender under age 16 at the committed; abrogating Stanford v. Kentucky, 492 **1185 time of the crime. The next year, in Stanford, a 5– U.S. 361, 109 S.Ct. 2969, 106 L.Ed.2d 306. to–4 Court referred to contemporary standards of decency, U.S.C.A. Const.Amends. 8, 14. but concluded the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments did not proscribe the execution of offenders over 15 but under 18 643 Cases that cite this headnote because 22 of 37 death penalty States permitted that penalty for 16–year–old offenders, and 25 permitted it for 17–year– olds, thereby indicating there was no national consensus. 492 U.S., at 370–371, 109 S.Ct. 2969. A plurality *552 also “emphatically reject[ed]” the suggestion that the Court should * **1184 *551 Syllabus bring its own judgment to bear on the acceptability of the juvenile death penalty. Id., at 377–378, 109 S.Ct. 2969. That At age 17, respondent Simmons planned and committed a same day the Court held, in Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. capital murder. After he had turned 18, he was sentenced to 302, 334, 109 S.Ct. 2934, 106 L.Ed.2d 256, that the Eighth death. His direct appeal and subsequent petitions for state and Amendment did not mandate a categorical exemption from federal postconviction relief were rejected. This Court then the death penalty for mentally retarded persons because only held, in Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304, 122 S.Ct. 2242, two States had enacted laws banning such executions. Three 153 L.Ed.2d 335, that the Eighth Amendment, applicable Terms ago in Atkins, however, the Court held that standards to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment, prohibits of decency had evolved since Penry and now demonstrated the execution of a mentally retarded person. Simmons filed that the execution of the mentally retarded is cruel and a new petition for state postconviction relief, arguing that unusual punishment. The Atkins Court noted that objective Atkins' reasoning established that the Constitution prohibits indicia of society's standards, as expressed in pertinent the execution of a juvenile who was under 18 when he legislative enactments and state practice, demonstrated that committed his crime. The Missouri Supreme Court agreed such executions had become so truly unusual that it was and set aside Simmons' death sentence in favor of life fair to say that a national consensus has developed against imprisonment without eligibility for release. It held that, them. 536 U.S., at 314–315, 122 S.Ct. 2242. The Court although Stanford v. Kentucky, 492 U.S. 361, 109 S.Ct. also returned to the rule, established in decisions predating 2969, 106 L.Ed.2d 306, rejected the proposition that the Stanford, that the Constitution contemplates that the Court's Constitution bars capital punishment for juvenile offenders own judgment be brought to bear on the question of the younger than 18, a national consensus has developed against acceptability of the death penalty. 536 U.S., at 312, 122 S.Ct. the execution of those offenders since Stanford. 2242. After observing that mental retardation diminishes personal culpability even if the offender can distinguish right Held: The Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments forbid from wrong, id., at 318, 122 S.Ct. 2242, and that mentally imposition of the death penalty on offenders who were under retarded offenders' impairments make it less defensible to the age of 18 when their crimes were committed. Pp. 1190– impose the death penalty as retribution for past crimes or 1200. as a real deterrent to future crimes, id., at 319–320, 122 S.Ct. 2242, the Court ruled that the death penalty constitutes (a) The Eighth Amendment's prohibition against “cruel an excessive sanction for the entire category of mentally and unusual punishments” must be interpreted according retarded offenders, and that the Eighth Amendment places a to its text, by considering history, tradition, and precedent, substantive restriction on the State's power to take such an and with due regard for its purpose and function in the offender's life, id., at 321, 122 S.Ct. 2242. Just as the Atkins constitutional design. To implement this framework this Court reconsidered the issue decided in Penry, the Court now Court has established the propriety and affirmed the necessity reconsiders the issue decided in Stanford. Pp. 1190–1192. of referring to “the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society” to determine which (b) Both objective indicia of consensus, as expressed punishments are so disproportionate as to be “cruel and in particular by the enactments of legislatures that have unusual.” Trop v. Dulles, 356 U.S. 86, 100–101, 78 S.Ct. addressed the question, and the Court's own determination in 590, 2 L.Ed.2d 630. In 1988, in Thompson v. Oklahoma, © 2015 Thomson Reuters. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. 2 Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005) 125 S.Ct. 1183, 161 L.Ed.2d 1, 73 USLW 4153, 05 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 1735... the exercise of its independent judgment, demonstrate that the that even a heinous crime committed by a juvenile is evidence death penalty is a disproportionate punishment for juveniles. of irretrievably depraved character. The Thompson plurality Pp. 1192–1198. recognized the import of these characteristics with respect to juveniles under 16. 487 U.S., at 833–838, 108 S.Ct. 2687. (1) As in Atkins, the objective indicia of national consensus The same reasoning applies to all juvenile offenders under here—the rejection of the juvenile death penalty in the 18. Once juveniles' diminished culpability is recognized, it majority of States; the infrequency of its use even where is evident that neither of the two penological justifications it remains on the books; and the consistency in the trend for the death penalty—retribution and deterrence of capital toward abolition of the practice—provide sufficient evidence crimes by prospective offenders, e.g., Atkins, supra, at 319, that today society views juveniles, in the words Atkins 122 S.Ct. 2242—provides adequate justification for imposing used respecting the mentally retarded, as “categorically less that penalty on juveniles. Although the Court cannot deny culpable than the average criminal,” 536 U.S., at 316, 122 or overlook the brutal crimes too many juvenile offenders S.Ct. 2242. The evidence of such consensus is similar, and have committed, it disagrees with petitioner's contention in some respects parallel, to the evidence in Atkins: 30 that, given the Court's own insistence on individualized States prohibit the juvenile death penalty, including 12 that consideration in capital sentencing, it is arbitrary and have rejected it altogether and 18 that maintain it but, by unnecessary to adopt a categorical rule barring imposition of express provision *553 or judicial interpretation, exclude the death penalty on an offender under 18.
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