In Stanford v. Kentucky, the Supreme Court held that the implementation of the death penalty on criminals over the age of sixteen at the time of their crime did not violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban against cruel and unusual punishment. The Court ruled that the definition of cruel or unusual punishment hinged on said society's description of "evolving standards of decency." In Stanford vs. Kentucky, the Court found that the standards of decency did not reveal a clear national consensus against the use of the death penalty on capital offenders for crimes committed while the offender was over the age of sixteen. Thus, the belief that individual states maintained jurisdiction over the appropriate implementation of the death penalty was held
