The new ruling could worsen existing racial disparities in states that condemn teens to die in prison. Evan Miller, right, was escorted to the Lawrence County Courthouse in Moulton, Ala., in 2006. In April 2021, he was resentenced to life without parole for the 2003 murder of Cole Cannon. The Decatur Daily, via Associated Press
For years, the Supreme Court sent a consistent message about kids who commit the most serious crimes: They’re still kids. Their bad decisions are often a product of abusive upbringings and still-developing brains. So they can’t be executed. And they can’t get life without parole unless they kill someone and even then, “all but the rarest of children” deserve a chance at release.
CHICAGO A bipartisan group of federal lawmakers will introduce a package of bills to make the way children and teens are treated in the federal criminal justice system more fair and age-appropriate. The reforms include ending sentences of life without parole for children, establishing a minimum age for prosecuting children and protecting due process rights of children at the point of arrest, among others. Xavier McElrath-Bey, co-executive director of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, said by the time he was 13 years old, he had 19 arrests and seven convictions. .
U.S. Supreme Court spurns limits on life sentences for juveniles
Reuters | Apr 22, 2021 09:43 PM EDT
A general view of the United States Supreme Court in Washington, U.S. (Photo : REUTERS/Will Dunham/File Photo)
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday made it easier for states to impose sentences of life in prison without parole on juvenile offenders, ruling against a Mississippi man convicted of killing his grandfather at age 15 in a case testing the Constitution s Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
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The justices in a 6-3 ruling rejected arguments by the inmate, Brett Jones, that his sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole violated the Eighth Amendment because the judge in his trial had not made a separate finding that he was permanently incorrigible. The court s six conservative justices were in the majority, with the three liberal members dissenting.
Supreme Court makes it easier to sentence minors to life in prison without parole
Updated 8:15 PM;
Today 8:15 PM
In this Oct. 7, 2020, file photo the Supreme Court in Washington. After more than a decade in which the Supreme Court moved gradually toward more leniency for minors convicted of murder, the justices have moved the other way. The high court ruled 6-3 Thursday along ideological lines against a Mississippi inmate sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for fatally stabbing his grandfather when the defendant was 15 years old. The case is important because it marks a break with the court’s previous rulings and is evidence of the impact of a newly more conservative court. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)AP
Supreme Court moves away from leniency for minors sentenced to life without parole Published 3 hours ago
FILE - In this Oct. 7, 2020, file photo the Supreme Court in Washington. After more than a decade in which the Supreme Court moved gradually toward more leniency for minors convicted of murder, the justices have moved the other way. The high court ruled 6-3 Thursday along ideological lines against a Mississippi inmate sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for fatally stabbing his grandfather when the defendant was 15 years old. The case is important because it marks a break with the court’s previous rulings and is evidence of the impact of a newly more conservative court. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)