Experts Discuss the Legacy of Roper v. Simmons

In this month’s pod­cast episode of 12:01: The Death Penalty in Context, DPI’s Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Professors Craig Haney and Frank Baumgartner, and DPI’s Staff Attorney Leah Roemer about the lega­cy of the US Supreme Court’s deci­sion in Roper v. Simmons and the legal and sci­en­tif­ic land­scape sur­round­ing the use of the death penal­ty for young adults ages 18 – 20. Professors Baumgartner and Haney, along with fel­low researcher Karen Steele, col­lab­o­rat­ed on a 2023 study which dis­cuss­es the legal con­text and ratio­nale of the Court’s deci­sion in Roper when it barred the death penal­ty for juve­niles under age 18. Ms. Roemer is a major con­trib­u­tor to DPI’s new report, Immature Minds in a ​“Maturing Society”: Roper v. Simmons at 20.