Christopher Simmons Research Paper

Christopher Simmons was not your typical American teenager. Abused and neglected as a young boy, by the time he was seventeen years old he became a convicted murderer and was sentenced to the maximum punishment which is the death penalty. Christopher Simmons was old enough and mature enough to understand that what he did was morally and socially wrong. If someone can completely conjugate up a murder plot by oneself, then they should be sentenced to the death penalty no matter the age. Simmons should have received the death penalty despite his age at the time of the crime he perpetrated. Simmons’ life took a turn for the worse when he was just seventeen years old, and a junior in high school. Simmons’ and his two friends, Charles Benjamin

Their so-called plan was to break and enter the victim’s home, bound her hands and mouth with duct tape, and then proceed to throw the victim off a bridge. On the night of the murder, only two of the boys, Christopher Simmons and Charles Benjamin, showed up at the victim’s household. John Tessmer left the two boys behind to commit the acts without him. The two boys entered the victim’s home by reaching through an open window and unlocking the door. As soon as the two entered the home, Simmons flipped on a light switch causing the victim to wake up. Simmons and Benjamin entered the bedroom of Mrs. Crook, they used duct tape to shut her eyes and mouth and tie up her hands. They loaded the victim into a minivan and drove to the nearest state park where they fortified the duct tape on her and covered her head with a towel. Simmons and Benjamin walked her over to a railroad crossing over the Meramec River where they tied her up once more in electrical wire and threw her into the river below where she essentially drowned. To even further Simmons’ immatureness and poor logical thinking, he went around the town bragging about

Crook, he should still be subject to the death penalty no matter his age. If someone can go to extreme lengths to dream up a plan to murder someone, then there is no reason to not give them the death penalty. When Simmons stated that they would not be caught because they are young and will get away with it (Missouri Death Row), this goes to show that clearly Christopher Simmons knew that there were going to be consequences for their actions. He was mature enough to know what right from what is wrong. The fact that Simmons bragged about the murder after it was committed goes to show that undoubtedly Christopher Simmons lacks compassion and sympathy which could in turn lead to more crimes whether they are performed within the prison walls or on the outside. Counseling would get nowhere with these types of people simply because they already have their minds filled with distorted views. Simmons took time and effort to plan out the murder of Mrs. Crook and to any judge that should be a big sign that they could possibly carry out another deadly act. Simmons evidently has no respect for life nor is responsible enough as a citizen to obey the laws. Taxpayers would not be thrilled about paying for Simmons to be in prison knowing that he was subject to the death penalty. Prisons are already overcrowded so why would we continue to add to the population? Once a person is admitted to a penitentiary it then becomes the State,