Christopher Simmons 8th Amendment

Words: 350

Pages: 2

The 8th Amendment states that people cannot go through cruel and unusual punishment, no matter how bad the crime. But, the definition of cruel and unusual punishment is very subjective. On September 9th, 1993, Christopher Simmons decided to kill his classmate Shirley Crook (Dowell 2023). He broke into her house in the middle of the night, kidnapped her, and took her to a bridge to proceed to throw her off and watch her drown. Therefore, he was later arrested and charged with burglary, kidnapping, and murder (Beckman, n.d.). When brought to trial court, Simmons failed to defend himself and was found guilty and sentenced to death penalty. As a result, Simmons was angry about having the death penalty while being a minor and created a petition

Show More

Roper Simmons Case

Facts: In the year 1993 the defendant Roper Simmons along with two other friends planned on killing Shirley Crook. Roper Simmons planned on breaking into Shirley Crook’s home, kidnapping her, and throwing her of a bridge. The night of the murder one of the three friends by the name of Tessmer backed out of the plan and decided to leave. Roper Simmons and his other friend Benjamin carried on with the plan of killing Shirley Crooks. Shirley Crook was kidnapped from her home and taken to a state park…

Words 962 - Pages 4

Roper V. Simmons Case Study

Roper v. Simmons (2005) is a Supreme Court case that examines the use of capital punishment against juvenile offenders. At the age of seventeen, Christopher Simmons was given the death penalty for the murder of Shirley Crook in the first degree in 1997. Simmons then appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court in which the Missouri Supreme Court affirmed State v. Simmons in 1997. A writ of habeas corpus was also denied by the federal courts in 2001, determining his arrest and imprisonment legal. A writ…

Words 1864 - Pages 8

Pros And Cons Of The 8th Amendment

cruel and unusual punishments inflicted” The 8th amendment is a very important inclusion to the 10 bill of rights. This guaranties the right that you will be punished fairly on the crime you’ve broken. You won’t be hung because you were speeding. The 8th amendment makes it unconstitutional for the jury to give you an unreasonable bail. The bail must meet the crime as well as the fine. These are all stated in the different clauses of the 8th amendment. 2.) This Idea was part of British law for centuries…

Words 1071 - Pages 5

Roper V. Simmons Essay

In 1993 Christopher Simmons, a 17 year old junior in high school committed the murder of Shirley Crook. Simmons had constructed a thorough plan to rob the Crook’s house with two of his friends from school, Charles Benjamin and John Tessmer. Charles Benjamin being fifteen and John Tessmer being sixteen. Simmons targeted the Crook’s house because of a car accident that involved him and Mrs. Crook. Having told peers and friends that he wanted to murder someone before the incident, Simmons was the one…

Words 2430 - Pages 10

Cruel and Unusual Punishment Essay

made up of the most respected judges and jurors available. To this day it is argued whether or not in juvenile court, it is violating the Constitution to have the accused receive the death sentence and/or capitol punishment of any degree. Roper Vs. Simmons is an eccentric engagement in regards to the fact that the supreme court took in verdicts and opinions from previous cases and public opinion pertaining to said case. Certain justices believed that juveniles and the mentally ill were not disregarded…

Words 925 - Pages 4