Supreme Court to Take Another Look at Juvenile Sentencing
The US Supreme Court has agreed to take a closer look at juvenile sentencing to determine whether juveniles convicted of killing someone can be sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole.

January 19, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The United States Supreme Court has decided to take a closer look at juvenile sentencing in homicide cases. Specifically, the nation's highest court will determine whether juveniles convicted of killing someone can be sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole.

The high court will review two specific cases involving 14-year-old boys convicted of capital murder. In one of the cases, a boy was involved in a robbery of a video store that led to the killing of the store clerk. The boy claims he was only the lookout for his friend. In the second case, a boy beat a man and left him to die in his house as the boy and his friend set fire to it. Both boys were sentenced to life in prison, without the possibility of parole, for crimes they committed when they were still in middle school.

The Equal Justice Initiative from Montgomery, Alabama, which is responsible for filing both of the cases in the Supreme Court, argues that a sentence this extreme for juveniles constitutes "cruel and unusual punishment" in violation of the Eighth Amendment. The group believes juveniles are less culpable for their actions and more likely to be reformed than adults.

This will be the third time the Supreme Court has looked at sentencing for juveniles in the last six years. So far, the Court has been restricting the use of rather harsh penalties for minors. In 2005, the Court banned the death penalty for anyone under the age of 18. And last fall, in Graham v. Florida, the United States Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for anyone under age 18 to receive a life sentence without the possibility of parole for a crime that falls short of killing someone (a non-homicide offense).

In the majority opinion, Justice Kennedy pointed to the importance of giving juveniles "a chance to demonstrate maturity and reform. The juvenile should not be deprived of the opportunity to achieve maturity of judgment and self-recognition of human worth and potential."

Since Graham was decided last year, a number of lower courts have grappled with the issue of whether to extend it to cases involving juvenile defendants and murder convictions. At least 10 courts have declined to apply it, and another seven also did not restrict life sentences when the juveniles were convicted of being an accomplice to murder. Given this, there is no telling how the Supreme Court might rule once it hears the case.

Currently it is believed that 73 people are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for violations they committed at age 13 or 14.

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