You might be talking about the Stanford v. Kentucky (1989),
where the U.S Supreme Court ruled that offenders at least 16 years old at the time
of the crime can be punished with death penalty. Doing so would not constitute
cruel and unusual punishment. That means 16-year olds who committed heinous
crimes can be put to death. The ruling was overturned with the Roper v. Simmons
in 2005, which forbade capital punishment for juveniles.
The difference between the two churches that is the western church and the Eastern church was the leadership. This is because the the Eastern church which is also known as the Orthodox Churches caused a division between the eastern and the western beliefs and the churches in the Europe Empire.
