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Supreme Court Rules on Juvenile Sentencing

By Steve Hall

The Supreme Court has ruled out life without parole sentences for juvenile offenders convicted of nonhomicidal crimes.  The ruling in Graham v. Florida is in Adobe .pdf format.The initial AP dispatch is, "High court rules out life sentences for juveniles," by Mark Sherman. The Supreme Court has ruled that teenagers may not be locked up for life without chance of parole if they haven't killed anyone. By a 5-4 vote Monday, the court says the Constitution requires that young people serving life sentences must at least be considered for release.The court ruled in the case of Terrance Graham, who was implicated in armed robberies when he was 16 and 17. Graham, now 22, is in prison in Florida, which holds more than 70 percent of juvenile defendants locked up for life for crimes other than homicide...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on May 17, 2010 (boomark / email).