Monday, November 07, 2011
Supreme Court grants cert on two Eighth Amendment LWOP challenges for 14-year-old murderers!
In this post last week, I asked "What might SCOTUS be doing with long-held cases involving 14-year-olds serving LWOP?". This morning we got an answer via the Supreme Court's new order list: getting ready to grant cert and thereby tee up the biggest constitutional sentencing cases for the current SCOTUS Term!!
I do not yet know the details that surround the crimes and administration of LWOP punishments in Miller v. Alabama and Jackson v. Hobbs (which comes from Arkansas). But I do know that that Miller and Jackson are now the two most important sentencing cases now on the Supreme Court's docket for the current Term.
I will have lots and lots and lots to say about these cases in the weeks and months ahead, but I will start by simply affording kudos to the Justices for taking on this important post-Graham issue head-on rather than dodging it for a few more years.
A few recent related posts from just the last few months:
- What might SCOTUS be doing with long-held cases involving 14-year-olds serving LWOP?
- "Graham on the Ground"
- Does Graham create constitutional problems for juve LWOP for murder accomplice?
- "The Supreme Court and the Sentencing of Juveniles in the United States: Reaffirming the Distinctiveness of Youth"
- "Juvenile Criminal Responsibility: Can Malice Supply the Want of Years?"
November 7, 2011 in Assessing Graham and its aftermath, Jackson and Miller Eighth Amendment cases, Offender Characteristics, Scope of Imprisonment, Sentences Reconsidered | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack