In 2005, in Roper v. Simmons, the United States Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to impose capital punishment for a crime that an individual committed while that person was under 18 years old. In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled in Miller v. Alabama that a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole for juveniles is unconstitutional. These decisions, and others, reflect a trend in which the Court has indicated that children, because of their lack of maturity, should be treated differently from adults. Last week, that trend paused, or perhaps, stopped. 

In Jones v. Mississippi, decided April 22, 2021, the Court held that a sentence of life imprisonment without parole for a 15-year-old juvenile who was convicted of murder does not violate the Eighth Amendment’s Cruel and Unusual Punishment clause. More specifically, in its 6-3 decision, the Court ruled that a minor does not have to be deemed incapable of rehabilitation to receive a sentence of life without parole. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing for the majority, opined that previous decisions only required a judge to consider “an offender’s youth and attendant characteristics” before imposing a sentence of life without parole.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]