Foreword: Life Without Parole for Minors
Juvenile Justice and the Eighth Amendment
Few Western democracies sentence individuals to death for crimes they commit while under age 18. In 2005, the United States joined them when the Supreme Court ruled in Roper v. Simmons that it is unconstitutional to impose the death penalty for crimes committed by minors. Such executions, the Court held, are counter to the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of “cruel and unusual punishment.” The Court also noted that the country’s standards of decency have evolved to a point where most U.S. citizens no longer tolerate juvenile executions. Not long after the Roper decision, youth advocates began arguing that the same reasoning…
