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"More States Rethinking Life Sentences for Teens"

By Douglas A. Berman

The title of this post is the headline of this new piece in The National Law Journal.  Here is how it gets started: Their lawyers have long urged juries to give juvenile defendants a second chance. Now a growing number of states are rethinking the wisdom of sentencing teenagers to life in prison. Two states have recently passed -- and at least 11 states are considering -- legislation that would end life sentences for those under 18 years old or, more generally, restrict charging juveniles as adults. The U.S. Supreme Court will also have something to say on the issue. In two Florida cases argued in November, the high court is considering whether a life sentence without parole for juveniles who have committed crimes other than murder violates the U...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on March 15, 2010 (boomark / email).