Criminal Law Assignment: PICK Analysis Of Roper v Simmons (2005) Case

Question

Task:
In this criminal law assignment, you are required to prepare a report on PICK Analysis of any supreme court case in USA

Answer

Introduction
The US Supreme Court Case that has been chosen for the purpose of PICK analysis within this criminal law assignment is Roper v Simmons (2005). The case has been one of the landmark decisions by the US Supreme Court where the court held that the execution of an individual who has committed a crime below the age of 18 years will violate the provisions of the Eighth Amendment. Therefore, this decision of the Supreme Court will be analyzed using the PICK framework.

About the Case:
According to the given case, Simmons who has committed a capital murder at the age of 17. The Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Missouri held that Simmons should be executed on the basis of his crime. However, Simmons appealed before the Supreme Court of the United States and argued that the execution of an individual below the age of 18 years is violating the provisions of the Eighth Amendment which has been applied to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. Therefore, it has been held by the Supreme Court of the USA that imposing capital punishment on juveniles is violating the provisions of the Constitution of the US (Justia Law., 2021).

PICK Analysis
Possible: The possible grid denotes an idea that is easy to implement but shall provide a low payoff. According to the given case, the idea of capital punishment is easy to implement but will not provide accurate justice. The judicial system of the USA has been operating for the purpose of providing reasonable justice to the people of the USA through appropriate interpretation of the legislative provision of the country. According to this grid, the decision of the Supreme Court should be such that it would be easy to implement but will not have a high impact. That is the idea of punishing the criminal in such a manner that will provide justice to both the criminal as well as the victim or the relatives of the victim without having much impact.

Implement: The implement grid denotes the idea that it is easy to implement and has a high payoff. This means that the idea can be implemented easily but the impact of the idea will be high. According to the given case, the idea of executing capital punishment on crimes committed by an individual who is below the age of 18 years is easy to implement but may have a high impact on society. It can be seen as cruel and punishment which is unusual in nature. Therefore, in this case, the court may find the implementation of the decision to be easy but it will not provide appropriate justice to the offender. The decision may be accepted by the family or relative of the victims but the decision will not serve the purpose of different provisions of the law and violates the primary law that is the Constitutional provisions of the country. Therefore, according to this court must change its decision from execution to life imprisonment.

Challenge: The challenge grid within the PICK analysis denotes the idea that is hard to implement but the determination of payoff is difficult. According to the given case, the idea of executing capital punishment on crimes committed by an individual who is below the age of 18 years is hard to implement and the impact of such a decision cannot be determined. Therefore, the court should not take into consideration such a decision which can be seen as cruel, and punishment which is unusual in nature. Therefore, in this case, the court may find the implementation of the decision to be hard and will not provide appropriate justice to the offender as well as will not have any deterrence effect on the society. The decision may be accepted by the family or relative of the victims but the decision will not serve the purpose of different provisions of the law and violates the primary law that is the Constitutional provisions of the country. Therefore, according to this court must change its decision from execution to life imprisonment.

Kill: The challenge grid within the PICK analysis denotes the idea that is hard to implement but the decision has a low payoff. According to the given case, the idea of executing capital punishment on crimes committed by an individual who is below the age of 18 years is hard to implement and the impact of such a decision shall have low and will not have any deterrence effect on society. Therefore, the court should not take into consideration such a decision which can be seen as cruel, and punishment which is unusual in nature. Therefore, in this case, the court may find the implementation of the decision to be hard and will not provide appropriate justice to the offender as well as will not have any deterrence effect on the society. The decision may be accepted by the family or relative of the victims but the decision will not serve the purpose of different provisions of the law and violates the primary law that is the Constitutional provisions of the country. Therefore, according to this court must change its decision from execution to life imprisonment.

Conclusion
Therefore, from the above analysis provided within this criminal law assignment by the use of the PICK framework the decision that shall be chosen is the grid implement as the decision is hard to implement but will have a high impact on society. That is if the court changes its course of decision from execution to life imprisonment, it will also have a deterrent effect as well as the people of the country will have faith in the judicial system as well as the legislation of the country.

Reference:
Justia Law. (2021). Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005). Retrieved 9 October 2021, from https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/543/551/.