High court looks at life sentences for juveniles - Yahoo! News: "By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer Mark Sherman, Associated Press Writer – Mon Nov 9, 4:26 pm ET
WASHINGTON – A seemingly divided Supreme Court wrestled Monday with whether teenagers can be locked away forever for their crimes. The question arose in two cases involving Florida men who are serving life prison terms with no chance of parole for crimes they committed as teenagers. Their lawyers argue that the sentences for people so young are cruel and unusual, in violation of the Constitution, because young people have greater capacity to change.
Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the Supreme Court opinion four years ago that ruled out the death penalty for people under 18, judging them less responsible than adults. So most eyes were on him Monday as the court considered whether to extend that rationale to life without parole sentences.
But Kennedy offered little hint of his position, at one point suggesting it might be difficult to distinguish between juveniles and adults in cases that do not involve the death penalty.
'Why does a juvenile have a constitutional right to hope, but an adult does not?' he asked."
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
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Very interesting point this attorney has brought on, I think that the question of whether a juvenile should be pup into prison for life will be a very serious topic in the future. It is true that a teen does have alot more time to change, maybe the way they handle that should be different.
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