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Texas Senate endorses penalty reduction for juvenile capital murderers

I'm as shocked to see the Texas Senate unanimously endorsed eliminating life without parole for juvenile capital murderers as I was to see Williamson County DA John Bradley testify in favor of the bill in committee. Congratulations to Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa for getting this landmark legislation through the Legislature's upper chamber. If it earns approval from the House and the Governor, the new law would make juvenile capital offenders eligible for parole (though not entitled to it) after 40 years, so in most cases sometime in their 50s.I don't track capital sentencing issues closely, but Doc Berman over at Sentencing Law & Policy has written a lot on this topic, see:Assailing LWOP for juvie offendersEffective examination of juvie LWOP problems in MichiganHRW report assails juvie LWOP in CaliforniaNebraska working to reform juve LWOP sentencesNYTimes coverage of very young lifersJuves serving life termsFascinating juve clemency development in ColoradoLife without parole for juvenile may be cruel, but it is not unusualThe next issue in sentencing of juveniles? California considering eliminating LWOP for juveniles Forthcoming PBS program "When Kids Get Life" Does Roper suggest young juve LWOP is unconstitutional? continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on April 20, 2009 (boomark / email).