Criminal Law: Miller vs. Alabama
Miller v. Alabama
By Melissa Nester
Criminal Law
This assignment will show how in the case of Miller v. Alabama cruel and unusual punishment has
been applied to the juvenile offenders who commit criminal acts but do not have the mental capacity of
an adult who knows what they are doing. Juvenile offenders were being sentenced to life in prison
without the possibility of parole until Miller fought to have this sentenced changed. Evan Miller, 14 years old was convicted of aggravated murder and was to serve life in prison without
the possibility of parole for beating his neighbor and then setting his trailer on fire which caused the
man to die. The Alabama court system found him guilty of murder in the course of arson and
sentenced in regular court, not juvenile, to the mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of
parole. Miller appealed his convictions stating that it was a violation of his amendment rights. The first
amendment right being violated was the Eighth Amendment states that cruel and unusual punishments
shall not be inflicted upon anyone. And the second Amendment right being violated was the
Fourteenth. The Fourteenth Amendment states that nor shall any state deprive any person of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the law. He then used the examples of the Supreme Court cases Roper v. Simmons and
Graham v. Florida. In these cases it was said that a minor cannot be sentenced to death and that a
minor cannot be imprisoned for life for a non homicidal crime, as evidence that their conviction
contravenes nationally held standards of decency. This then causes arguments from the state of Alabama stating that these two cases are totally different
and there are no similarities that can be compared. The state, states that national standards of decency
do support the
By Melissa Nester
Criminal Law
This assignment will show how in the case of Miller v. Alabama cruel and unusual punishment has
been applied to the juvenile offenders who commit criminal acts but do not have the mental capacity of
an adult who knows what they are doing. Juvenile offenders were being sentenced to life in prison
without the possibility of parole until Miller fought to have this sentenced changed. Evan Miller, 14 years old was convicted of aggravated murder and was to serve life in prison without
the possibility of parole for beating his neighbor and then setting his trailer on fire which caused the
man to die. The Alabama court system found him guilty of murder in the course of arson and
sentenced in regular court, not juvenile, to the mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of
parole. Miller appealed his convictions stating that it was a violation of his amendment rights. The first
amendment right being violated was the Eighth Amendment states that cruel and unusual punishments
shall not be inflicted upon anyone. And the second Amendment right being violated was the
Fourteenth. The Fourteenth Amendment states that nor shall any state deprive any person of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the law. He then used the examples of the Supreme Court cases Roper v. Simmons and
Graham v. Florida. In these cases it was said that a minor cannot be sentenced to death and that a
minor cannot be imprisoned for life for a non homicidal crime, as evidence that their conviction
contravenes nationally held standards of decency. This then causes arguments from the state of Alabama stating that these two cases are totally different
and there are no similarities that can be compared. The state, states that national standards of decency
do support the
References: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cert/10-9646