From the PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS Editorial:
NEARLY 500 Pennsylvania inmates who were sentenced to life without parole while they were juveniles may get another chance for freedom thanks to Monday’s Supreme Court decision that ruled such sentences are unconstitutional. Following a 2005 decision that outlawed the death penalty for juveniles, and a 2010 decision that outlawed life without parole for juvenile nonhomicide offenders, this decision outlaws mandatory-life-without-parole sentences for homicide offenders.
The Supreme Court is not excusing young people who commit murder — or juveniles who were sentenced not because they murdered but because they were with someone who did — and neither are we. But the court decision is eloquent in recognizing that “youth is more than a chronological fact,” but a time of immaturity, irresponsibility, “impetuousness and recklessness.” By outlawing the mandatory sentence, it requires sentencers to consider the age of the convicted.
As in earlier decisions, the deficiencies of a child’s or adolescent brain development that can prevent them from understanding consequences of their actions, and even right and wrong, figured in the court’s decision…
Click here to read the full article.
EDITOR: Please continue reading to discover what the Daily News has to say about the Courts refusal to re-visit its “Citizens United” decison.
