Sentencing juvenile homicide offenders to life without parole: A comparative legal analysis

• In Event: Juveniles and Sentencing Issues

Abstract

In Miller v. Alabama (2012), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled mandatory sentences of life without the possibility of parole for juvenile homicide offenders unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment’s cruel and unusual punishments clause. The Court did not eliminate the sentence of life without parole (LWOP), only statutes mandating this punishment for juveniles. The ambiguity of the decision left many procedural questions unanswered. It is not clear whether Miller may be applied retroactively to the 2,000+ individuals serving LWOP for homicide crimes committed as juveniles. The 28 states that had mandatory LWOP schemes for some juvenile homicide offenders must revise their sentencing procedure laws to accommodate the vague requirements set forth in Miller. Through an inductive doctrinal analysis, this paper examines how states and judicial systems have complied with the Miller ruling. A total of 331 court opinions (i.e., 72 federal and 259 state) and juvenile homicide sentencing laws in all 50 states were analyzed. Findings revealed conflict with retroactive relief and appropriate sentence length, but general agreement regarding transfer to the adult court, plea bargaining, and adult sentencing.

Authors

• Kallee Spooner, Sam Houston State University

• Michael S. Vaughn, Sam Houston State University