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How Does Roper V. Simmons Violate The 14th Amendment

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Roper V Simmons involved a juvenile (Christopher Simmons) who committed murder and got the death penalty. Christopher Simmons had the desire to commit murder and thought since he was a minor he would get away with the crime. On September 8th , Christopher Simmons, Charles Benjamin, and John Tessmer met at 2 am and planned to rob and murder a victim, their victim ended up being Shirley Cook. The three found Mrs. Cook in her bedroom, they then proceeded to tie her up and cover her mouth with duct tape , after they drove her to the Meramec River and dropped her off the bridge leaving her to drown. Tessmer fled the scene and ended up testifying against Simmons. The next day at school , Christopher Simmons and Charles Benjamin got arrested in …show more content…

The eighth amendment is a protection for American citizens against “cruel and unusual punishment” and “excessive bail”. Roper v Simmons also violates the fourteenth amendment which addresses rights and citizenship, this became another hurdle in the case. The fourteenth amendment states “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” , in Roper v Simmons the Missouri Supreme Court was close to depriving Christopher Simmons of his life. Since Roper V Simmons states have reevaluated their minimum age for death penalty, 30 states do not even have a death penalty or capital punishment anymore. Cornell Law has also argued that because of Simmons’s age he was mentally incompetent, at the age at 17 Simmons is not eligible to “drink, serve on juries or even see certain movies…” , this was very intimidating and scary to Simmons’s prosecutor. The prosecutor called Simmons’s age a “mitigating factor” in his

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