On June 25, 2012, the Supreme Court had ruled that juveniles who committed a crime such as murder, could not be sentenced to life in prison because it is violating the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. In the supreme court decision, I agree that it is harsh and should not be allowed for a minor to serve life in prison, even if murder is committed. The decision is agreeable due to the severe punishment on someone young whose life is ruined over the decision they made. The information on a minor is misleading it masks a juvenile as a brutal killer is society's eyes. These statements should be brought to the people who are disagreeing with the court decision, and prove that these minors do not deserve an adult sentence with life in prison.…
Recently, the United States Supreme Court has decided to hear a Florida case, Sullivan v. State, 987 So.2d 83 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008), where a minor received a life without parole sentence in a conviction for rape.3 This note will analyze the Sullivan case and predict how the Court will likely rule. There are two dimensions that this note will discuss: First, the Eighth Amendment jurisprudence of the United States Supreme Court regarding proportionality in sentencing. And second, the Court’s treatment of minors under the Eight Amendment’s “cruel and unusual” clause.…
Historically, children have been regarded as constitutionally different from adults. This fact is evident in the way past cases have been decided. Certain juvenile characteristics such as their “ immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to appreciate risks and consequences” illustrates the clear discrepancy between children and adults. Furthermore, the majority contend that instances that call for punishment as severe as life imprisonment without parole will be exceedingly uncommon and rare. Requiring that all juvenile convicted of homicide are sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole regardless of age or other mitigating factors violates the principle of proportionality.…
He’s thirty-three years old, waking up on a cold, hard bed, eating “nutritious” food, scared of the other inmates, knowing his life will end in prison, all for a crime he committed when he was fourteen. He knows that he has a lot longer to serve as he was given a life sentence. This man described, who was once a child delinquent, is like many other children in America who faced the same fate. Since the very first court case of a child murderer, the debate of whether children should be tried as adults has been a raging discussion.…
In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court declared laws that require judges to impose life-without-parole sentences for juveniles to be in violation of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of “cruel and unusual punishments.” The decision ( Miller v. Alabama ) was a 5-4 split in the Court – which is typical of many such decisions that apply the cruel and unusual punishment provision.…
In the 2005 case Roper v. Simmons, the supreme court ruled that any individual who is under the age of 18 when he commits a crime cannot be sentenced to the death penalty because it does not stand with the nation’s ‘evolving standard of decency.’ Roper v. Simmons is in very close relation to the case Graham v. Florida. Graham established the principle that no minor can be sentenced to life without parole unless they committed a homicide, and further reduced the harshest punishment a minor can receive. The interpretation of the 8ths amendment has changed much between the 1900s and early…
Keeping in mind the brief overview of each of the major rationales for sentencing will allow the following four arguments to be understood with greater clarity. To begin, the first argument to support the urgent need to restructure the criminal justice system is the effect and impact of mandatory minimum sentencing on the high rates of incarcerations. The effects of mandatory minimum sentencing are staggering, and transcend into many different areas of the criminal justice system. The principal justification for the creation of mandatory minimum sentences is that by increasing the likelihood of custody, it will be a strict deterrent for crime prevention and a response to political “tough on crime” strategies. It was also thought to minimize…
If I were a legislature and wanted to propose laws that would abolish the mandatory minimum sentencing, I would focus on evidence that suggests these statutes are the root cause for overcrowding and financial burdens to government budgets (Schmalleger & Smykla, n.d.). Because every state in the union has been affected by mandatory minimum sentencing, I would also capitalize on the trends of other states releasing prisoners’ early and abolishing similar sentencing laws (Schmalleger & Smykla, n.d.).…
Not a day goes by where our national media doesn’t report on stories involving heinous and criminal acts committed by juveniles in the United States. Juvenile delinquency is a fact of life – ranging from minor status offenses to unimaginable acts of violence. When dealing with young offenders, there are always difficult decisions to make concerning appropriate punishments that take both public safety and the needs of the juvenile into account. In response to a recognizable increase in youth crime, getting tough on juvenile delinquency and holding young offenders more accountable has been the national trend in the past two decades (Brinks, 2004). Many argue that removing juveniles from the environment in which their crimes were committed is the most successful deterrent of future negative behavior. But what does secure confinement provide these…
This paper will examine the history of the Juvenile Court system and its intended purposes, the history of capital punishment being used against minors, court decisions both in limiting capital punishment for youthful offenders, as well as upholding states rights to sentence juveniles to death. Most importantly, we will analyze possible factors that contributed to the decision of Roper v Simmons such as the international community's opposition of the juvenile death penalty and the majority consensus of the American public in outlawing this practice.…
In a 5 to 4 ruling, the Supreme Court decided to abolish capital punishment for juveniles. After doing an experiment they concluded that it was cruel and unusual punishment to give a minor the death penalty because they are too immature. 20 states permitted the death penalty for minors. They canceled the death sentence for Christopher Simmons and 72 other people for crimes they committed under the age of 18. Texas, who has 29 juveniles awaiting execution, and Alabama who has 14 waiting, will feel the impact of this change the most. The Supreme Court weighs death penalty laws based on a 1958 ruling called the “evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society;” Also they look at the state legislation and the jury verdicts to decide…
There are many different argument both for and against mandatory minimum drug sentencing. However there are more arguments against mandatory minimum drug sentencing then there are for the support of the mandatory sentencing. One of the biggest arguments against mandatory minimum drug sentencing is that it was originally intended to target the higher level drug dealers but the majority of the cases have only been low level drug dealers. One of the other arguments is that will cause the jail systems to become overcrowded and that if is unfair.…
Jazmyne Garcia Shywanda Royal English 12b 04/6/16 Juveniles deserve life sentencing It is more likely for teenagers to commit heinous crimes when they have been emotionally and physically abused. Teenagers who suffer from a mental illness are more likely to commit recidivism than an adult that has random encounters with the law. Prosecutors who try juveniles as adults believe that a crime is a crime, even if the person who committed it was a young adult.…
Mandatory Minimum sentencing usually is defined when a judge is determined to deliver a fixed amount of years in prison to an individual for a convicted crime. Most mandatory minimum sentences apply to drug offenses but it also applies to other crimes, like having an unlicensed gun, fraud, and many others. Mandatory Minimum legislature contributes to the truth that America has a systematic problem in the increase of mass incarceration and men of color are being deprived of their natural rights. The mandatory minimum sentence doesn’t resolve the dilemma of crime. American nonviolent drug offenses should be prosecuted, but Mandatory Minimum sentencing should be eradicated.…
Harsh sentences’ have negative impacts on juvenile offenders. Being house with adults makes juveniles easy victims towards physical and sexual abuse. The court recognized that juveniles are immature, preventing them from the death penalty, but has not yet realized that juvenile offenders should not be housed with adult inmates because of the age difference, the adults easily manipulate the juveniles.…