Justices Limit Life Sentences for Juveniles

Justices Limit Life Sentences for Juveniles

www.nytimes.com

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that juveniles who commit crimes in which no one is killed may not be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Five justices, in an opinion by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, agreed that the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment forbids such sentences as a categorical matter.

“A state need not guarantee the offender eventual release,” Justice Kennedy wrote, “but if it imposes the sentence of life, it must provide him or her with some realistic opportunity to obtain release before the end of that t

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This seems to me a good move by the Supreme Court. Juveniles are considered less legally responsible than full adults for a reason. Developmentally and intellectually they are not fully grown until at least the age of 20. To condemn a young person who is not fully developed to a life in prison seems cruel and unusual punishment.

I do agree that if a juvenile commits murder, then they should be held accountable. But this ruling does not include murderers. Just less violent offenses.

www.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I fully agree with this. I have never understood locking a child up for the rest of their lives when they barely even know how the world really works. If we can't trust a child to sign a contract and know what they are getting into, how can we expect them to know exactly what the consequences and ramifications are for committing certain crimes?

reply to post by nunya13


Agreed.

Actually, I can't think of a non-violent crime that would require life in prison without parole for anybody, much less kids.

Maybe there are life sentences given to some sexual offenders. That would make some sense.

IMO there are too many people who don't deserve it doing life because of the "three strikes" law. It's a good concept, but in actual life it has resulted in what I consider to be many gross travesties of justice.