Entries by Claire Moustafellos

Thirty years ago this month, the Supreme Court in its land­mark deci­sion Roper v. Simmons found cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment for indi­vid­u­als under 18 years of age uncon­sti­tu­tion­al under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. In explain­ing their deci­sion, the Court drew in part on​“sci­en­tif­ic and soci­o­log­i­cal” stud­ies show­ing that a lack of matu­ri­ty in youth can lead to​“impetu­ous and ill-con­sid­ered actions and deci­sions,” which sup­port­ed the idea that this cohort…

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