Juveniles Will Not Face Life in Prison Without Parole
The United States Supreme Court has ruled that a juvenile offender cannot be sentence to life in prison without parole for a non-homicide case because it violates the 8th amendment of the constitution and is deemed to be cruel and unusual punishment.
The Unites States is the only country that imposes life without parole sentences on juveniles for non-homicide cases and Florida has 77 of the 129 such cases nationwide.
By imposing such a harsh sentence on juveniles who have not killed anyone, the court is viewed as basically condemning juveniles to die in prison for an adolescent crime that although serious, did not include the taking of another person’s life. However, the justices ruled that life without parole for a juvenile has ignored the court’s historical findings that there are many differences between adolescents and adults, such as maturity, culpability and vulnerability.
This holding means that any juvenile who commits a crime that is anything other than murder cannot be sentenced to life in prison without parole. Unfortunately, some crimes that are committed by juveniles are so heinous and the juvenile offender is so highly culpable that a sentence of life without parole could be justified under the Constitution. The dissenting justices pointed out that a life without parole sentence is not cruel and unusual punishment and should be applied by the courts when necessary. Although some cases that do not involve murder may not demand such a harsh sentence, other crimes committed by juveniles may require such a penalty, which the courts are no longer able to impose.
