The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the imposition of mandatory life sentences on juvenile offenders violates the U.S. Constitution.
In handing down the ruling, the court threw out two cases against men convicted as boys of murders that were committed in Alabama and Arkansas.
The court’s 5–4 decision said that life sentences for juveniles violates the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, which prevents the usage of cruel and unusual punishment.
Life sentences for juveniles, Justice Elena Kagan wrote, “neglects the circumstances of the homicide offense, including the extent of his participation in the conduct and the way familial and peer pressures may have affected him.”
Chief Justice John Roberts, however, argued that the practice of sentencing juvenile offenders to life has become commonplace in the United States and should not be considered a form of unusual punishment.
“Our society has moved toward requiring that the murderer, his age notwithstanding, be imprisoned for the remainder of his life,” Roberts said in a dissenting opinion.
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