The Supreme Court’s decision extended a ruling from 2012 that struck down automatic life sentences with no chance of parole for juvenile murderers.
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In a 2012 case called Miller v. Alabama, the court held that a juvenile convicted of a homicide offense could not be sentenced to life in prison without parole without considering the juvenile’s special circumstances, such as immaturity and potential for growth.
At issue is a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision that abolished mandatory life sentences for juveniles convicted of first-degree murder, partly in response to scientific research about adolescent brain development. So when the Supreme Court ruled four years ago that mandatory life terms are unconstitutional for juvenile offenders, even murderers, his lawyer sought a review of his sentence. The state has the highest per capita number of people sentenced to life without parole as juveniles, according to the Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights.
Most of those affected are consolidated in a few states – notably Louisiana, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
That’s under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling handed down Monday.
This most recent case, Montgomery v. Louisiana, stems from an incident in 1963 when 17-year-old Henry Montgomery killed a deputy sheriff in Baton Rouge and was sentenced to life without parole.
The Louisiana Supreme Court denied Montgomery’s plea for reconsideration of his sentence, consistent with its ruling in another prisoner’s case that the Miller decision was procedural rather than substantive in nature. They can also offer parole hearings for those who fall under the ruling. “The court did not go far enough, still allowing the sentence in rare cases, but it recognized that it is almost impossible to be certain that any child is beyond redemption – and that the US criminal justice system needs to change to reflect this fact”. The Court’s opinion will pave the way to reduce the numbers of adult individuals convicted as juveniles who otherwise faced death in prison for their crimes.
“It’s much better to rehabilitate someone and have them become a productive member of society than to incarcerate them for life”, he said.
Of course. This whole exercise, this whole distortion of Miller, is just a devious way of eliminating life without parole for juvenile offenders. The argument against jurisdiction was that the court’s past cases addressing retroactivity related to the federal habeas corpus statute, not a constitutional rule that would apply to state court proceedings.
The court’s decision Monday does not require that states re-sentence all of those who were sentenced to life without parole automatically.
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A report released last fall by the nonprofit group Phillips Black found that 2,300 juveniles are carrying out life sentences without the option of parole nationwide.
