Ruling in Roper v. Simmons, on March 1, 2005, the majority opinion declared, “The Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments forbid imposition of the death penalty on offenders who were under the age of 18 when their crimes were committed.”
The question presented was:
“[W]hether it is permissible under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States to execute a juvenile offender who was older than 15 but younger than 18 when he committed a capital crime.”
Oral Arguments
You can hear the oral arguments for this case here:
Or listen to them directly on the Supreme Court’s website here.
The Ruling
You can read the final ruling in Roper v. Simmons either in our read in full below, or click here for a PDF.
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