In the article "Cheating the Hangman: The Effect of the Roper v. Simmons Decision on Homicides Committed By Juveniles" authors Jamie L. Flexon, Lisa Stolzenberg and Stewart J. D'Alessio (2009) research and discuss the effect of the Supreme Court decision in Roper v. Simmons. The purpose of the study is to determine if the Roper decision has had an effect on rates of juvenile offenders committing homicide.
             Historically in the mid 1600's juveniles could be out to death for disobedience and cursing their parents out. It was not until the 1800's that people began to seriously debate the treatment of youthful offenders. During this same time the American juvenile justice system was formed and there was an increased emphasis on rehabilitation and treatment. However, the new system did not "anticipate a youth being tried in adult court under the threat of the death penalty" (Flexon et al., 2009, p.929). In the first thirty years of the 20th century 77 juveniles who had been transferred to adult court were put to death and this trend has continued and even increased; "from 1973 to 2004...227 juveniles were sentenced to death under adult sentencing schemes" (Flexon et al., p. 930). Only recently have changes effected the juvenile death penalty.
             The legal decisions leading to the change of the constitutionality of death penalty for juveniles began in 1988 when the Supreme Court ruled that in jurisdictions where there was an age limit of executions that it was unconstitutional to execute juveniles under age 16 when the crime was committed (Thompson v. Oklahoma, 1988). In 1989, the court ruled that executing juveniles that were 16 or 17 when their crime was committed was not unconstitutional (Stanford v. Kentucky) and this effected only the states authorized a juvenile death penalty. In 2005 the court again looked at the constitutionality of the juvenile death penalty in Roper v. Simmons and rul...