By Mani Dabiri | Published February 23, 2018 | Posted in Federal and State Criminal Defense, Post-Conviction Defense and Appeals | Tagged Tags: cruelandunusual, eighthamendment, gunsandammo, juvenilejustice, lenity, punishment, sentencingalternatives, theftlarcenyrobbery |
Judge Regrets Sentencing Teen to Life Without Parole
Speaking of harsh penalties, how’s 241 years in prison for a 16-year-old boy? Well, it happened to this boy twenty years ago. The judge who sentenced him told him he’d die in prison. She told him he wouldn’t even be eligible for parole until 2091, when no one he knew would be alive, anyway. One can Read More
Read MoreLifetime Sex-Offender Registration for Kids
Do you think sex-offender registration is punishment? What if it’s for life? What if it’s for a 12-year-old boy? Last week, the California Court of Appeal ruled that it’s not punishment to call a kid a sex offender for life because of something he did when he was twelve years old. According to the court, the boy’s early years Read More
Read MoreOur Ballooning Sex-Offender Registries
California’s not the only state having trouble with its sex-offender-registration regime. In New York, the prisons are holding people past their release dates because they can’t find anywhere to live, and nearly 95% of the homeless shelters are off-limits, too. The problem is that we don’t pass these laws on the basis of reason and evidence but Read More
Read MorePope Francis Calls for the End of LWOP Sentences
While California still tolerates sentences of life without the possibility of parole for juveniles, and Massachusetts has ruled them out entirely, there is variation nationwide in the use of life sentences—with or without the possibility of parole—in all cases and for all people. An interesting, multi-state report by The Sentencing Project identifies a total of 160,000 people as serving life sentences as of 2012, Read More
Read MoreShould We Ever Sentence Children to Life Without the Possibility of Parole?
What’s wrong with possibilities? Earlier this month, the California Court of Appeal held that a trial court could impose a sentence of life without the possibility of parole (or LWOP) on a 16-year-old boy even though the court could not rule out the possibility of rehabilitation. He’s older now, but the boy was just sixteen years old when he committed Read More
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