Thompson v. Oklahoma

SCOTUSCase
Litigants=Thompson v. Oklahoma
ArgueDate=November 9
ArgueYear=1987
DecideDate=June 29
DecideYear=1988
FullName=William Wayne Thompson v. State of Oklahoma
USVol=487
USPage=815
Citation=108 S. Ct. 2687; 101 L. Ed. 2d 702; 1988 U.S. LEXIS 3028; 56 U.S.L.W. 4892
Prior=Defendant tried as an adult and convicted of murder of his brother in law, who had been abusing his ex-wife(which happened to be Thompson's sister),was found guilty, and was sentenced to death. Appealed to Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, decision affirmed. Appealed to U.S. Supreme Court, granted writ of certiorari.
Holding=The Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments forbid imposition of the death penalty on offenders who were under the age of 16 when their crimes were committed.
SCOTUS=1988-1990
Plurality=Stevens
JoinPlurality=Brennan, Marshall, Blackmun
Concurrence=O'Connor
Dissent=Scalia
JoinDissent=Rehnquist, White
NotParticipating=Kennedy
LawsApplied=U.S. Const. amends. VIII, XIV

"Thompson v. Oklahoma", 487 U.S. 815 (1988)ref|citation, was the first case since the moratorium on capital punishment was lifted in the United States in which the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of a minor on grounds of "cruel and unusual punishment."

William W. Thompson, a 15 year-old at the time of his crime, was tried as an adult for murder, found guilty, and sentenced to death in an Oklahoma trial court. The Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma upheld the decision.

On appeal, the Supreme Court held in a 5-3 decision that Thompson's execution would violate the Eighth Amendment as applied to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court noted the "evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society" as a primary concern. Numerous U.S. jurisdictions and all industrialized Western nations had banned the execution of minors under 16 years of age. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the dissent, and Anthony Kennedy took no part in the decision.

ee also

*"Stanford v. Kentucky"
*"Roper v. Simmons"
*"Atkins v. Virginia"
*List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 487

External links

* [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=CASE&court=US&vol=487&page=815 487 U.S. 815] Full text of the opinion courtesy of Findlaw.com.