Monday, June 25, 2012

Newsflash! Supreme Court Decides Miller & Jackson - Automatic Life Without Parole for Juveniles is Unconstitutional

From the National Juvenile Defender Coalition:
(Emphasis added.)
Today, the United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in Miller v. Alabama, No. 10-9646 holding that “mandatory life without parole for those under the age of 18 at the time of their crimes violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on ‘cruel and unusual punishments’” and that “a judge or jury must have the opportunity to consider mitigating circumstances before imposing the harshest possible penalty for juveniles.”  ...
Justice Kagan delivered the opinion of the Court (5-4) in which Justices Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, and Sotomayor joined. Justice Breyer filed a concurring opinion in which Justice Sotomayor joined.   Chief Justice Roberts filed a dissenting opinion in which Justice Thomas and Alito joined.  Justice Thomas filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Scalia joined. Justice Alito filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Scalia joined.



I look forward to your thoughts on this case.  It overturned the life without parole sentences of two juveniles - Miller, who was convicted for beating a man and burning him alive inside his trailer, and Jackson, who was convicted for felony murder for his participation in an aggravated robbery in which co-conspirator ended up shooting someone.  Both kids were 14 years old, and both were convicted in adult courts and given the mandatory sentence of life without parole.

A heads up, the University of Minnesota's Journal of Law and Inequality will be devoting its symposium this year completely to this topic.  Save the date!: October 4, 2012.