Do juvenile murderers deserve life without parole?

Wednesday, August 24, 2016 - 15:01 in Psychology & Sociology

The U.S. Supreme Court answered this question in two recent decisions (Miller v. Alabama, 2012; Montgomery v. Louisiana, 2016). "Rarely," the Court said, and only when developmental evidence shows that the juvenile is "irreparably corrupt." Moreover, in juvenile homicide cases, developmental evidence must now guide courts' assignment of lesser sentences than life with parole as well. In their article recently published in Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, Grisso and Kavanaugh (2016) examine sentencing of juveniles from the developmental perspective described in these two decisions, offering guidance to judges, attorneys, and experts who provide developmental evidence in juvenile homicide cases.

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