The Role of Science in the Supreme Court's Limitations on Juvenile Punishment

Examines the role that the scientific developments may or may not have played in the Court's change in position. First, the state of science leading into the 1988 and 1989 cases will be presented. Second, the Court's decisions in those cases will be examined. Next, developments in science between the two groups of cases will be discussed. That will be followed by a discussion of the treatment of the science in the opinions by the members of the Court in the later series of cases. Lastly, conclusions regarding the role of science will be offered.