Constitutional Law Facts of the Research Proposal

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Kennedy referred to international as well as domestic standards in defense of the court's majority opinion. He wrote: "Our determination that the death penalty is disproportionate punishment for offenders under eighteen finds confirmation in the stark reality that the United States is the only country in the world that continues to give official sanction to the juvenile death penalty. This reality does not become controlling, for the task of interpreting the Eighth Amendment remains our responsibility. Yet at least from the time of the Court's decision in Trop, the Court has referred to the laws of other countries and to international authorities as instructive for its interpretation of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of 'cruel and unusual punishments'" (Roper, 2005, University of Cornell Law School).Holding: The court overturned Stanford v. Kentucky, stating that society's mores had changed, and thus executing individuals for crimes committed while juveniles was cruel and unusual punishment.

Work Cited

Roper v. Simmons. (2005). University of Cornell Law School.

Retrieved March 31, 2009 at http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-633.ZO.html.....

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