In the end, the Court’s flawed proportionality argument simply cannot bear the weight the Court would place upon it. Trop v. Dulles, 356 U. S. 86, 100–101 (1958) (plurality opinion). Laws Ann. She drowned in the water below. The right flows from the basic “   ‘precept of justice that punishment for crime should be graduated and proportioned to [the] offense.’   ” 536 U. S., at 311 (quoting Weems v. United States, 217 U. S. 349, 367 (1910)). §5–4–615 (Michie 1997) (same), Del. VII, §2 Ariz. Rev. Code Ann., Tit. Its mandate would be little more than a dead letter today if it barred only those sanctions—like the execution of children under the age of seven—that civilized society had already repudiated in 1791. 1999). Ann.

In general we leave to legislatures the assessment of the efficacy of various criminal penalty schemes, see Harmelin v. Michigan, 501 U. S. 957, 998–999 (1991) (Kennedy, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment).

2000). The opinion of the world community, while not controlling our outcome, does provide respected and significant confirmation for our own conclusions. We once thought that a person’s brain is fully developed by the age of 14.

“[P]roportionality—at least as regards capital punishment—not only requires an inquiry into contemporary standards as expressed by legislators and jurors, but also involves the notion that the magnitude of the punishment imposed must be related to the degree of the harm inflicted on the victim, as well as to the degree of the defendant’s blameworthiness.” Enmund, supra, at 815 (O’Connor, J., dissenting). It does not lessen fidelity to the Constitution or pride in its origins to acknowledge that the express affirmation of certain fundamental rights by other nations and peoples underscores the centrality of those same rights within our own heritage of freedom. Stat. I reaffirmed my view that, beyond assessing the actions of legislatures and juries, the Court has a constitutional obligation to judge for itself whether capital punishment is a proportionate response to the defendant’s blameworthiness. of Va., 515 U. S. 819, 842 (1995) (citing cases), countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, and Australia allow direct government funding of religious schools on the ground that “the state can only be truly neutral between secular and religious perspectives if it does not dominate the provision of so key a service as education, and makes it possible for people to exercise their right of religious expression within the context of public funding.” S. Monsma & J. Soper, The Challenge of Pluralism: Church and State in Five Democracies 207 (1997); see also id., at 67, 103, 176. The argument that “[r]etribution is not proportional if the law’s most severe penalty is imposed on one whose culpability or blameworthiness is diminished,” ante, at 17, is simply an extension of the earlier, false generalization that youth always defeats culpability. : Paula Cooper, a 15-year-old girl, was sentenced to die in the electric chair for the murder of my grandmother. See C. Slobogin, Criminal Procedure: Regulation of Police Investigation 550 (3d ed. Most importantly, in Atkins there was significant evidence of opposition to the execution of the mentally retarded, but there was virtually no countervailing evidence of affirmative legislative support for this practice.

as Amici Curiae 13–14. The cycle of violence begins with the onset of poverty, and economic and educational deprivation. Moreover, it defies common sense to suggest that 17-year-olds as a class are somehow equivalent to mentally retarded persons with regard to culpability or susceptibility to deterrence. 1, p 13).

See ante, at 15–16. Ann., Tit.

I, §17 (2003). And third, a juvenile’s character is not as fully formed as that of an adult. While drawing the line at 18 is subject to the objections always raised against categorical rules, that is the point where society draws the line for many purposes between childhood and adulthood and the age at which the line for death eligibility ought to rest. There is, to be sure, at least one difference between the evidence of consensus in Atkins and in this case. 1545, 1547 (West 2004) (minors may not marry without consent); La. Simmons’ mother, in particular, testified to the responsibility Simmons demonstrated in taking care of his two younger half brothers and of his grandmother and to his capacity to show love for them. He and I both knew that when we entered the death house as juvenile offenders, there was no room left for the boys within us.

Justice Scalia argued that the real issue was not a national legislative change against the juvenile death penalty but the Court's substitution of its own judgment that juvenile murderers are never as morally culpable as adults. §600.1307a(1)(a) (West Supp. See Stanford v. Kentucky, 492 U. S. 361, 368 (1989). of Oral Arg. He commented, “Whether to obtain an abortion is surely a much more complex decision for a young person than whether to kill an innocent person in cold blood” (Ref. The Court’s proportionality argument suffers from a second and closely related defect: It fails to establish that the differences in maturity between 17-year-olds and young “adults” are both universal enough and significant enough to justify a bright-line prophylactic rule against capital punishment of the former. Gen. Laws Ann., ch. Code Crim.

Neither the objective evidence of contemporary societal values, nor the Court’s moral proportionality analysis, nor the two in tandem suffice to justify this ruling. See Brennan v. State, 754 So. The Court concludes, however, ante, at 18, that juries cannot be trusted with the delicate task of weighing a defendant’s youth along with the other mitigating and aggravating factors of his crime.

Stat. It never explains why those particular studies are methodologically sound; none was ever entered into evidence or tested in an adversarial proceeding. England permits the teaching of religion in state schools. The petition for postconviction relief was denied by the trial court, and that decision was affirmed by the Supreme Court of Missouri. Let me begin by making clear that I agree with much of the Court’s description of the general principles that guide our Eighth Amendment jurisprudence. The criminal justice system, by contrast, provides for individualized consideration of each defendant.

Finally, Justice O’Connor finds it unnecessary to consult foreign law in the present case because there is “no . §500–A:7–a(I) (Lexis Supp.

§14–2–106 (Lexis 2004), Del. Most other countries—including those committed to religious neutrality—do not insist on the degree of separation between church and state that this Court requires. The fact that juveniles are generally less culpable for their misconduct than adults does not necessarily mean that a 17-year-old murderer cannot be sufficiently culpable to merit the death penalty. Simmons' defense counsel emphasized his lack of any prior charges or convictions and his close, loving relationship with family members. I again wrote separately, concurring in part and concurring in the judgment. The Court reaches this implausible result by purporting to advert, not to the original meaning of the Eighth Amendment, but to “the evolving standards of decency,” ante, at 6 (internal quotation marks omitted), of our national society. : Having stood by as numerous people I knew personally were executed, I have many experiences that stand out in my mind.

§18.2–10(a) (Lexis 2004). The Amendment bars not only punishments that are inherently “   ‘barbaric,’   ” but also those that are “   ‘   excessive’ in relation to the crime committed.

Stat. See Slobogin, supra, at 551; Bradley, supra, at 377–378. domestic consensus” to be confirmed.

Even putting aside questions of methodology, the studies cited by the Court offer scant support for a categorical prohibition of the death penalty for murderers under 18. §2929.02(A) (Lexis 2003), Ore. Rev.

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