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On March 1, 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit the execution of individuals who were under the age of 18 when they committed their crimes.
In August 2003, the Missouri Supreme Court overturned the death penalty of Christopher Simmons on the basis that it was unconstitutional as applied to any person who was a juvenile under the age of 18 years old at the time of the offense. Simmons had committed murder when he was 17 years old. The Missouri Court held that the state's death penalty violated the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
On July 19, 2004, NCYL along with more than 50 other child advocacy organizations joined an amicus curiae brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the decision of the Missouri Court and calling for an end to the juvenile death penalty.
On March 1, 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit the execution of individuals who were under the age of 18 when they committed their crimes. In doing so, the Court recognized that significant differences in brain development exist between adolescents and adults and that these differences diminish the level of culpability of juveniles, a position advocated by the amici groups. The Court also highlighted the importance of international law, noting that the "determination that the death penalty is disproportionate punishment for offenders under 18 finds confirmation in the stark reality that the United States is the only country in the world that continues to give official sanction to the juvenile death penalty."
Counsel for amici: Marsha Levick, Juvenile Law Center, Philadelphia, PA; Steve Drizin, Northwestern Univ. School of Law, Children and Family Justice Center, Chicago, IL; Darryl Hamm, NCYL, Oakland, CA.
Updated Mar. 1, 2006
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