Do executions of persons who committed their crimes when they were under the age of 21, or, at the least, the execution of a 19-year-old offender who suffered from significant mental impairments due to his immature and underdeveloped brain, violate the Eighth Amendment?

QUESTION PRESENTED Nineteen-year-old Michael Tisius was charged with two counts of first-degree murder for the killings of two officers guarding a small, rural jail. Recently released from jail himself, Mr. Tisius returned at the behest of the older, manipulative inmate Roy Vance, to help Vance escape. Vance’s plan was for Mr. Tisius and Tracie Bulington to use a gun to get the jailers to give them the keys to the cells, lock the jailers in a cell, free Vance, and then flee. Due to Mr. Tisius’s immature brain and cognitive impairments affecting him at the time of the offense, the plan went poorly, and in a panic, Mr. Tisius shot and killed the two jailers. Mr. Tisius’s age, challenges in his prefrontal cortex impairing his ability to make wise decisions in high pressure situations, a history of mental illness (including auditory processing challenges), and a brief life riddled with serious physical abuse by his brother and staggering neglect by his mother and father, caused this senseless tragedy. Since incarceration in 2001, Mr. Tisius has peacefully existed, channeling his energies into skillful artistic creations. A psychologist who evaluated Mr. Tisius over 20 years (since 2003) believes his present-day maturity reflects the exact trajectory medical experts would expect of a juvenile offender. The case presents the following question: Do executions of persons who committed their crimes when they were under the age of 21, or, at the least, the execution of a 19-year-old offender who suffered from significant mental impairments due to his immature and underdeveloped brain, violate the Eighth Amendment? i