PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Sarkar, Sameer P. TI - Too Young to Kill? U.S. Supreme Court Treads a Dangerous Pathin <em>Roper v. Simmons</em> DP - 2007 Sep 01 TA - Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online PG - 364--372 VI - 35 IP - 3 4099 - http://jaapl.org/content/35/3/364.short 4100 - http://jaapl.org/content/35/3/364.full SO - J Am Acad Psychiatry Law2007 Sep 01; 35 AB - The death penalty remains an intensely divisive topic in American society. Recently, there has been a series of cases, first involving defendants with mental retardation and more recently involving juveniles, in which the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled by a five‐to‐four margin that the death penalty in both these classes violates the Constitution's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment guaranteed in the Eighth Amendment. In this essay, I explore the Supreme Court's recent decision in Roper v. Simmons, a case involving juveniles. Besides a more general discussion of the Supreme Court's decision and the biting dissent led by Justice Scalia, I focus on the reliance on foreign authorities in the Court's decision. I submit that irrespective of the moral arguments against the death penalty, reliance on foreign authorities in interpreting the U.S. Constitution is a dangerous trend, as it has long‐term sovereignty implications for the United States.