Law School Case Briefs
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Stanford v. Kentucky
Supreme Court of the United States (1989) | 106 L. Ed. 2d 306; 109 S. Ct. 2969; 492 U.S. 361; 1989 U.S. LEXIS 3195
TL;DR: The Supreme Court held that executing offenders who were 16 or 17 years old at the time of their crime does not violate the Eighth Amendment, finding no national consensus against the practice under the "evolving standards of decency" test.
Legal Significance: This case established that the Eighth Amendment does not categorically prohibit capital punishment for 16- and 17-year-old offenders, emphasizing legislative enactments as the primary objective indicator of societal standards. This holding was later overturned by *Roper v. Simmons* (2005).