Pros And Cons Of Abolishing The Death Penalty For Juveniles

Decent Essays
Joe Harris Sullivan, now 30 years old is convicted of sexual assault, burglary and grand theft since the age of thirteen. Not to mention he was tried as an adult and is sentenced to life in prison without parole. Along with two other juveniles, Sullivan broke into an elderly woman's house, stole her things and raped her. In addition, a case known as Roper vs. Simmons case, the U.S. supreme court decided to abolish the death penalty for juveniles. This made Sullivan take action and he appealed, saying that giving a juvenile death penalty is just as equivalent to giving them life without parole. This means that if the Supreme court abolished death penalty for juveniles they should also abolish life in prison without parole. His case kept on

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    An estimated 250,000 youth are tried, sentenced, or incarcerated every year across the United States (campaign for youth justice). There is large controversy regarding whether or not children and young adults should be required to be sentenced as adults, regardless of their age and circumstance. This is believed to be the most logical way of approaching this matter because every case should undergo the same consequences despite the criminal’s circumstances. An opposing view would argue that it is necessary to take into consideration the situation of each criminal case before deciding on the punishment. They would also claim that children specifically, should be given another chance due to their lack of maturity.…

    • 1774 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Corey Johnson Summary

    • 242 Words
    • 1 Pages

    This article written by Corey Johnson is about a 16 year old boy named Taurus Buchannan who killed another young boy with one single punch. In the article, the author advocates that young adults should be tried as juveniles and the correctional system sentencing people should change. The author starts off the article with moments before the trial about Buchannan’s prosecutor, Tony Clayton, preparing for his first murder case. In the beginning of the article, it is clear that Clayton and the rest of the people involved in the trial want Buchannan to be tried as an adult and be sentenced to life without parole. The author does this to get the reader thinking about their side of the issue, and then humanizes Buchannan and later states that Clayton…

    • 242 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Case Review Simmons

    • 662 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Genesis Gonzalez Professor Aiello October 20, 2015 Supreme Court Case Review Over a decade ago a crime was committed that would change the way minors are charged for heinous crimes. In 1993, at the age of seventeen, Christopher Simmons was charged with burglary, kidnapping, stealing, and murder all in the first degree at the state level. He had broken into and entered a woman's home, who he recognized from a previous encounter with the woman. Once realizing he had recognized her from a previous car accident, he decided that he would have to kill her. He then tied up his victim with duct tape and cables and threw her off a bridge.…

    • 662 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Oklahoma (1988), and set a new precedence in the sentencing of juveniles across America based on a national consensus of decency and scientific studies (Justice Kennedy in Simmons v. Roper opinion, 2005). On the other, and as voiced by the dissenting justices, it cites and holds what some see as political, social, and foreign influences, rather than the interpretation or meaning of the law and spirit of the Constitution as implied by Justice Scalia in his dissent. Citing Scalia in his opening paragraph, “The Court thus proclaims itself sole arbiter of our Nation’s moral standards—and in the course of discharging that awesome responsibility purports to take guidance from the views of foreign courts and legislatures. Because I do not believe that the meaning of our Eighth Amendment, any more than the meaning of other provisions of our Constitution, should be determined by the subjective views of five Members of this Court and like-minded foreigners, I dissent” (Simmons v. Roper, 2005). In defense of Scalia’s dissent, as cited in the syllabus of the case (2)(c), “The overwhelming weight of international opinion against the juvenile death penalty is not controlling here, but provides respected and significant confirmation for the Court’s determination that the penalty is disproportionate punishment for offenders under 18.…

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I found that this decision of the Supreme Court to very hypocritical because in the Stanford v. Kentucky case, the Supreme Court ruled that Stanford should be sent to the death penalty and did not have a problem executing a minor which violates the 8th and 14th amendment. The Supreme Court should have just sentences the defendant to the death…

    • 1040 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Case Summary #3: Roper, V. Simmons, 2005. This is a case that involved a series of appeals against the sentencing to death of Christopher Simmons, a AuthorLastName3 minor aged 17 years. Although an earlier appeals even in the Supreme Court found the execution of a minor constitutional, the decision was overturned by the same court in 2002, arguing that opinion in the general public had changed in favor of not executing minors. The court argued that, apart from the change in public opinion, executing minors was a disproportionate punishment that was no longer…

    • 315 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Re Gault Case Essay

    • 592 Words
    • 3 Pages

    This case changed my outlook far as execution of juveniles. This case involved Simmons a young man that had a murder charge. I feel at age 17 you should be aware of our actions and with the fact that he bragged about the killing was an eye-opener to think of the possibility that this individual could have had mental issues or suffered some type of abuse as a youngster, that may have caused him to carry out this act of violence. I don’t feel he should have been executed due to these possibilities; however, a tough sentence should have been enacted. This case changed the development of sentencing anyone under the age of 18 to death it was ruled cruel and usual punishment.…

    • 592 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    nobody deserves to die for committing crime by mistake or without conscious, so the main point for human rights examinations must be that the death penalty is disproportionate with fundamental human rights standards. "Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love."(Martin Luther King). Capital punishment may have impact in expanding violence mentalities in a society which might increase the quantity of crimes rate in countries that practiced it.…

    • 178 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ethos Pathos Logos

    • 997 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Justice Alito noted that otherwise, “Even a 17 ½-year-old who sets off a bomb in a crowded mall or guns down a dozen students and teachers is a ‘child’ and must be given a chance to persuade a judge to permit his release into society…” He believes this should not be an option for such heinous…

    • 997 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The utmost significant youthful offender case was Roper v. Simmons. The basis for this statement is for the reason that prior to this incident, the United States of America, which allegedly was or is the most compassionate country that defends human rights, was the only Westernized nation that still had the death penalty for young offenders. The U.S. continued this death penalty procedure in spite of all the technical proof that they had on the subject of how juveniles are not comparable to fully-grown criminals because of their immature minds, which makes them do something on impulse short of thinking of the possible costs of their activities. As a result, the United States of America was comparable to other countries such as Iran or other countries that it branded as ethically broke in concern to executing youthful offenders before this judgement. The United States was in fact still delivering out death punishments for youthful offenders in the twenty first century.…

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    12). In this quote, Jenkins believes that a “life sentence still allows a great deal of living to be done.” Jenkins believes that with the life sentence that these juveniles are receiving, they are able to still live a good life behind bars. She also believes that the punishment of life in prison is still too lenient of a punishment for crimes such as murder when stating “far more than these teen killers gave to our murdered loved ones.” The reasoning for her argument points to only one example where a juvenile individual…

    • 1379 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In 2012 the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to give minors life in prison without the opportunity for parole. This case built off a previous case in 2010, Graham v. Florida, which banned giving minors life without parole for crimes excluding murder. This most recent case, Miller v. Alabama, banned life without parole for all minors regardless of the crime. Both these conclusions did not take into account the families of the victims of these crimes. The basis behind these rulings only benefits one party.…

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    This is not to argue about the pros and cons of the death penalty and juveniles, but to give data it can inform the controversial argument to focus on the Death Penalty and Juveniles. This is important to the general area under study because it will give a clearer view on the opinions of each person on the death penalty and juveniles. The intent is to provide details of death penalty and juveniles, whereas to give an understanding of what causes these young offenders to commit a crime and why the law agrees with the death penalty on juveniles with no difference from the adults. Additional studies show the death penalty used with juveniles may perhaps appear to be civilized or not. Sentencing a juvenile to death could lead to asking questions for…

    • 2957 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    The death penalty and life without parole to a minor was already deemed unconstitutional because it violated the eighth amendment. Although Millers crime was excessive, judges should have taken these Supreme Court cases into…

    • 1439 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Over 100 years ago the United States established the Juvenile Justice system. In most states, a person who between the ages of 10 and 18 charged with a crime is considered a juvenile . The juvenile justice system main goal is to help rehabilitation rather than punishing the individual and held youths who commit crimes responsible for their action. Where adults who are accused and found guilty of a crime, the criminal justice courts focus on punishments. There are many debates over the juvenile justice on whether or not the system should need to focus more on proving rehabilitation or punishment like the adult criminal justice system .…

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays