Supreme Court of the United States
Stanford v. Kentucky
June 26, 1989492 U.S. 361
Summary
The Supreme Court held that the Eighth Amendment does not forbid the death penalty for individuals who were sixteen or seventeen years old when they committed murder. The Court based its decision on the absence of a national consensus against such executions, as shown by the majority of states that permit capital punishment for offenders of that age. The judgment affirmed the death sentences imposed by Kentucky and Missouri. Justice O’Connor’s concurring opinion noted the same result but argued for a proportionality analysis.
Holding
- Whether the imposition of the death penalty on a person who was sixteen years old at the time of the crime violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.. No, the Eighth Amendment does not prohibit the death penalty for a crime committed at age sixteen.
- Whether the imposition of the death penalty on a person who was seventeen years old at the time of the crime violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.. No, the Eighth Amendment does not prohibit the death penalty for a crime committed at age seventeen.
Docket 87-5765
Cited authorities
- Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 37-1-102
- Tenn. Code Ann. § 37-1-102(4)
- Tenn. Code Ann. § 37-1-103
- Tenn. Code Ann. § 37-l-134(a)(l)
- 18 U.S.C. § 33
- Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. §208.170
- Mo. Rev. Stat. §211.021
- 36 Okla. L. Rev. 613