Supreme Court Orders States To Stop ‘Cruel And Unusual Punishment’ Of Juveniles

Twenty-nine states have laws requiring mandatory sentences of life without the possibility of parole for children who commit murder. The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, just struck down the mandatory nature of these laws.

Justice Elena Kagan wrote the majority opinion in which she stated, “State law mandated that each juvenile die in prison even if a judge or jury would have thought that his youth and its attendant characteristics, along with the nature of his crime, made a lesser sentence (for example, life with the possibility of parole) more appropriate.” These mandates violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments.

Judges and juries can still impose such sentences but, the opinion says, “a judge or jury must have the opportunity to consider mitigating circumstances before imposing the harshest possible penalty for juveniles.” The decision recognizes that children are not adults. Children have achieved neither maturity nor a fully developed sense of responsibility plus, since their characters are less formed than those of adults, they are more receptive to rehabilitation. These concepts have been reinforced by previous Supreme Court decisions—once in 2005, banning the death penalty for juveniles, and again in 2010, eliminating life in prison without the possibility of parole for crimes other than murder.