Teen Death Penalty
Discussion Questions

After the informal debate, teacher or a guest attorney may wish to ask some or all of the following questions in order to continue to stimulate the students' interest in this area. The teacher/attorney also is encouraged to ask additional questions and to take questions from the students.

1. Simmons relies heavily on social science evidence to make his case. In general, this evidence is used to demonstrate that juveniles are not as culpable as adults because they do not have as great of control of themselves as do adults. Do you find this argument compelling? Why or why not? If yes, when/how is it most appropriate to hold juveniles responsible for their acts? If no, how do you explain Simmons' argument that, in a variety of circumstances, the state does not consider individuals to be responsible enough to engage in a variety of activities until they are 18, i.e., prohibition on minor's voting and/or holding property in their own names until age 18.
2. Simmons argues that the United States should follow the lead of most other nations and ban juvenile executions. Do you feel that international opinions should have an impact on this country's domestic laws? Explain your answer. If no, can you think of any occasion where international opinion may be appropriate? If yes, within what bounds should international opinion be considered?
3. The death penalty is a very controversial topic. What are you personal opinions on this issue? Does the state have the right to take another's life as punishment for a crime? What, if any, limits do you feel should be placed on the state's ability to inflict capital punishment? What methods of execution are permissible? Hanging? Firing Squad? Gas Chamber? Electric Chair? Lethal Injection?
4. The Supreme Court has traditionally held that "death is different," and, thus, more procedural protections must surround capital cases. Do you agree with this reasoning? Should capital punishment be viewed as a distinct form of punishment, or just one among many others?, i.e., life imprisonment, fines, probation, etc.
5. If you were a justice, how would you rule on the main issue? Does executing individuals for crimes that they committed under 19 years of age violate the cruel and unusual punishments clause of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution? Why or why not? Explain your reasoning.

A Note on Sources: As mentioned above, the arguments provided in the activities above are taken from (or based on) the briefs of the petitioner, Roper, the respondent, Simmons, and the Amici that were filed in the U.S. Supreme Court case Roper v. Simmons. These include the petitioner's, Roper's, reply brief and the Appendix attached to the brief of the respondent, Simmons.

1. All briefs relating to the Petitioner and Respondent can be found on the following website www.abanet.org/publiced/preview/briefs/2004-2005.html under the heading Roper v. Simmons. The Amici Brief may be found on Lexis-Nexus by looking under: Legal Research/Find a Case/Supreme Court Briefs, 2004-2005 term.