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Sherry Colb Looks at Juveniles & LWoP

By Steve Hall

Her latest FindLaw commentary is, "Supreme Court Considers Constitutionality of Juvenile Life Without Parole."  Here are excerpts from the lengthy essay:This coming term, the Supreme Court will consider the important companion cases of Sullivan v. Florida and Graham v. Florida. Together, they raise the question whether a sentence of life imprisonment without parole for a non-homicide offense committed by a juvenile offender violates the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments. As a policy matter, I am sympathetic with the ultimate objective of reducing the severity of punishments in the U.S. However, as a legal matter, I will argue in this column that the Eighth Amendment case against juvenile life without parole is quite weak ? given the Court's precedents as well as the nature of the flaws inherent in harsh sentencing more generally...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on August 19, 2009 (boomark / email).