Exploring our harsh approach to juve punishment

Over at FindLaw, Sherry Colb has this new piece entitled "Why Does the U.S. Sentence Adolescents To Life Without Parole?".  Here is how it starts:

Last year the United Nations voted on a resolution to abolish life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for children and young adolescent offenders.  The vote was 185 to 1 in favor of abolition, and the United States was the lone dissenter.  Until 2005, moreover, when the Supreme Court outlawed the juvenile death penalty under the Eighth Amendment in the case of Roper v. Simmons, twenty states had allowed the execution of murderers who committed their crimes before the age of 18.  In this column, I will explore ways of thinking about crime in the U.S. that might help explain this punitive approach to juvenile offenders.

Some related posts:

• Does Roper suggest young juve LWOP is unconstitutional?
• NYTimes coverage of very young lifers
• Juves serving life terms
• Fascinating juve clemency development in Colorado
• Life without parole for juvenile may be cruel, but it is not unusual
• Teen crime, adult time in Colorado
• The next issue in sentencing of juveniles?
• Using Roper's focus on age in post-Booker sentencings
• California considering eliminating LWOP for juveniles
• Forthcoming PBS program "When Kids Get Life"