Supreme Court hears arguments on life without parole for juveniles

I do not believe that juveniles should serve a life sentence without parole. I understand that some of them are guilty of some pretty serious crimes, but we must make sure that we as a society are doing all that we can to rehabilitate. For full disclosure, I have worked in Juvenile Justice for almost 20 years. I have worked with youth that have committed some pretty heinous crimes. However, in all my years there were less than 10 youth that I thought were better off in the adult system than in the juvenile system.

I believe there has to be a national push to force the Department of Justice to implement national standards so that all states are operating the same as it relates to juveniles. The flexibility that each state has in my opinion is doing our youth more harm than good. I hope the Supreme Court shows some strength with this case!!

Between 10am and noon today the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments about whether it is constitutional to sentence someone to life in prison without the possibility of parole for a crime they committed as a juvenile - even homicide.

Experts say that the court's reasoning in Miller v. Alabama and Jackson v. Hobbs, which are being argued back-to-back by the same attorney, is likely to turn on new understandings about brain development, which indicate that children under 18 have a diminished capacity for understanding the consequences of their actions.

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