Supreme Court - Juvenile Justice Life Without Parole

Recently, the United States Supreme Court held oral arguments in two cases Evan Miller v. Alabama and Kuntrell Jackson v. Ray Hobbs, Director, Arkansas Department of Correction addressing the question of whether the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment prohibits the imprisonment of a juvenile for life without the possibility of parole as punishment for the juvenile's commission of a homicide offense.

To help the Court address the issues raised by these cases, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) with the American Medical Association submitted an amici curiae brief based on the science of adolescent behavior and brain development. The brief asserts that adolescents behave differently because their brains are not fully developed and exhibit functional differences from mature, adult brains.

Recent research has demonstrated that the brain continues to change and develop throughout the teen years and into early adulthood. The prefrontal cortex is the last part of the brain to mature, making cognitive control, impulse reaction and emotional regulation incomplete until adulthood. As a result, adolescents are more likely to respond impulsively, utilizing a more primitive part of their brain. They are also less likely to stop, think things through and fully appreciate the consequences of their actions.

The deterrent value of life without parole has yet to be demonstrated. It is particularly unlikely to deter adolescents from crime, as they tend to live in the present, think of themselves as invincible, and have difficulty contemplating the long-term consequences of their behavior.

As in the Supreme court decision against the practice of sentencing juveniles to life without parole for crimes other than homicide in Graham v. Florida (May, 2010), AACAP recommends opposing the imposition of life without parole for crimes committed as juveniles.

AACAP reference materials include:

Life Without Parole for Juvenile Offenders
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Juvenile Life Without Parole: Review of Sentences
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Evan Miller v. State of Alabama (2012)
United State Supreme Court, Nos. 10-9646, 10-9647. Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
The American Medical Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry as AMICI CURIAE based on scientific evidence on how the structural and functional immaturities of the adolescent brain affect judgment.
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Terrance Jamar Graham v State of Florida (2009)
United States Supreme Court, Nos. 08-7412, 08-7621. District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District
The American Medical Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry as Amici Curiae in support of neither party.
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Donald P. Roper, Superintendent, Potosi Correctional Center v. Christopher Simon (2004)
United State Supreme Court, Nos. 08-7412, 08-7621. Supreme Court of Missouri
AMICUS CURIAE of the American Bar Assocation in support of the respondent based on juvenile offenders generally do not have the heightened moral culpability that the Court requires for the imposition of the death penalty.
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