ON MARCH 1, 2005, in a case titled Roper v. Simmons, the United States Supreme Court held, by a five to four majority, that the Eighth Amendment’s proscription of “cruel and unusual punishments” bars imposition of the death penalty on those aged between 15 and 17 years at the time they commit a capital crime. The crime that gave rise to the Court’s ruling was summarized in Justice Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion: