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| Supreme Court Bans Juvenile LWOP For Non-Murder Offenses; Cites CHHIRJ Brief |
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The United States Supreme Court held yesterday that sentencing children under 18 to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for a non-homicide crime violates the Eighth Amendment's Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause. Writing for a 6-3 Court, Justice Kennedy concluded that "[w]ith respect to life without parole for juvenile nonhomicide offenders, none of the goals of penal sanctions that have been recognized as legitimate—retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation, provides an adequate justification." Before yesterday, 129 juveniles in America were serving life without the possibility of parole for non-homicide offenses. None of these children are expected to be immediately released, as the Court explained that its decision did not necessarily mean that States ever needed to release juvenile offenders sentenced to life imprisonment, but rather that the Eighth Amendment requires States to "give defendants like Graham some meaningful opportunity to obtain release based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation."
Joining the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice (CHHIRJ) filed an amicus brief in support of Mr. Graham. Urging the Court to hold that juvenile LWOP is unconstitutional, the CHHIRJ brief highlighted that disquieting relationship between the race of the juvenile defendant and the likelihood that (s)he received a LWOP sentence. Citing the CHHIRJ Brief, Justice Kennedy emphasized: "the features that distinguish juveniles from adults also put them at a significant disadvantage in criminal proceedings. Juveniles mistrust adults and have limited understandings of the criminal justice system and the roles of the institutional actors within it. They are less likely than adults to work effectively with their lawyers to aid in their defense."
The Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice regularly files both amicus and direct representation briefs on behalf of the indigent accused in state and federal courts across the country. |