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Running head: UNCONSTITUTIONAL JUVENILE SENTENCING

Unconstitutional Juvenile Sentencing

Adrine Rodriguez
Arizona State University
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SHOULD JUVENILES BE SENTENCES O LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE

Thesis:
Juveniles should not be sentenced to life without parole for being charged with accessory to
murder or nonhomicide crimes because juveniles fail to understand their rights as a citizen as
well as an intellectual.
Within the United States a person under the age of 18 is tried in juvenile court, unless the court
establishes a waver for the juvenile to be tried in criminal court. Crimes such as being an
accessory to murder and other nonhomicide crimes can result in a life sentence. Accessory to
murder and nonhomicidal crimes should be held at a high degree, but many who commit these
crimes are young people. Young people that have not fully grasped the seriousness of their
actions, and how they affect others around them. Not having a clear image of the world around
them is much deeper than just being clueless, it comes down to science. Recent studies have
shown and proven that young adolescents are still maturing and have not physically and mentally
reached adulthood yet. A juvenile charged with first degree murder regardless of their role in the
crime can be sentenced to life in prison. As for a juvenile who committed a nonhomicide crime
can as well be sentenced to life in prison, but this is based on the degree of the crime. Instead of
imprisoning children and stripping them of their youth, we should help rehabilitate them and
help better their future.

(1985). Arizona law Review 27(4), 871-930.

When dealing with juveniles that are sentenced to prison for life, or on death row there
would be little to none rehabilitation on a child that isn’t fully developed. This sentence is
a cruel and unusual punishment for a child that was a part of felony murder but did not
commit the actual murder. In some cases, the juvenile doesn’t always commit the crime,
but get mixed up in the crime. In 1978 Ricky, Raymond Tison and their third brother
Donny were involved in the prison escape of their father Grey Tison and Randy
Greenawalt. During this crime the two convicted murders Grey Tison and Randy
Greenawalt killed a family, where the three boys had no idea that they would be as well
charged with murder and sentenced to death even though they did not pull the trigger.
These boys acted under their fathers control and were not aware of the full situation
which shows how children and adults are different in a cognitive aspect.
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SHOULD JUVENILES BE SENTENCES O LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE

Emily C. Keller. (2012). Constitutional Sentences for Juveniles Convicted of Felony Murder in
the Wake of Roper, Graham & J.D.B. Connecticut Public Interest Law Journal, 11, 297-363.

Children are different than adults on many levels. Children’s brains are not fully developed like
adults’ brains are. According to the article, in 2005 the Supreme Court issued a series of opinions
stating that adolescents are different than adults in fundamental -- and constitutionally relevant --
ways. Offenders that are charged with crimes such as felony murder at a prepubescent age tells
you something about their brain. It shows that even at such a young age, a person can have the
capacity to commit such a heinous crime, while not even realizing at the time that it is wrong or
unjust. Meanwhile an adult offender knows right from wrong and can be held accountable of
their actions. In contrast children can’t see beyond the basic action itself where an adult could do
so.

Heide, K., Spencer, E., Thompson, A., Solomon, E., & Ewing, Charles P. (2001). Who's in,
who's out, and who's back: Follow‐up data on 59 juveniles incarcerated in adult prison for
murder or attempted murder in the early 1980s. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 19(1), 97-108.
Juvenile crimes on murder have increased since the mid-1980s. Most cases have been sentenced
to lengthy times, more than two-thirds of these juveniles have served their time and have been
released. This explains how not every juvenile is sentence to life without parole. Most of the
crimes that children committed and that are sentenced to life without parole is because of the
degree and their involvement in the murder or crime itself. Juveniles are not always a victim in
some cases, and in some cases the justice system is correct in the sentence times of these crimes
but is hard to believe that a child could be sentence to life without parole, but not the reason to
why they are sentenced to life without parole in the first place.

Knight, Erin D. (2016). Brought back to life: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court resuscitates
parole eligibility for juveniles convicted of first degree murder. Suffolk University Law
Review, 49(1), 139.
Juvenile courts are not based on the conviction itself but based on the rehabilitation of the child.
This is true because juveniles are more likely to demonstrate change which is the difference
between juvenile offenders and adult offenders. Under the federal law every individual state has
the right to regulate their laws. The juvenile court system was put in place to regulate criminal
law committed by minors. Since the early 1990s the perception of juvenile court has skewed due
to juveniles committing higher degree of crimes for example murder. Juveniles can be charged
with first degree murder, even if they were an accessory to the murder itself, what juveniles are
charged with is up to the judge. When a juvenile is charged with first degree murder they
automatically get life without parole (LWOP). Under the eighth amendment, LWOP for an
offender that is an accessory to murder is a cruel and unusual punishment because taking away a
child’s ability to change when they have shown that they can do so is unconstitutional, due to not
allowing them to have the right to be rehabilitated. Where they went to juvenile court to be
rehabilitated and not remanded to life without parole.
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Moore, Michael T., Jr. (2014). Felony murder, juveniles, and culpability: Why the Eighth
Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment should preclude sentencing juveniles who do
not kill, intend to kill, or attempt to kill to die in prison. Loyola Journal of Public Interest
Law,16(1), 99.
Children don’t always understand the laws and their rights. When committing a crime most
juveniles are not expecting to commit a felony offense or even felony murder. Most Juvenile’s
that are sentenced to prison for these offenses did not commit the crime themselves. David who
was fifteen years old, and Larry who was thirteen at the time of the crime decided to rob a
convince store. Where Larry went inside the store and murdered the clerk, then ran into the car
that David was driving. The police arrested the boys and charged both with murder. Larry
already had a run in with the law, so he knew not to incriminate himself, where David did not,
and he told the police that Larry came up with the plan and killed the clerk. There was not
enough evidence to charge Larry, but enough to charge David with felony murder and sentence
life without parole. High percentage of at-risk youth children in the system that are charged with
first degree murder are actually an accessory to murder and sentenced to LWOP, without fully
understanding the charges being held against them.

Padilla-Frankel, Chelsea. (2016). Contemporary theory on customary international law and

human rights violations in the United States: Languishing behind bars - juveniles sentenced to
life without parole. Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law, 33(3), 824
Life without parole for a juvenile is a cruel and unusual punishment, according to the convention
article 37 no child should be subjected to torture, cruel, or inhumane punishment. Sentencing a
child to life without parole for accessory to murder or a nonhomicide crime is unconstitutional
under the international law. Juveniles that are protected under the law but in some cases are
violated and stripped of their life for crimes that they didn’t fully understand they were
committing. Juveniles are protected under the law due to the convention article 37, when
juveniles are denied this protection they are subjected to unconstitutional sentencing and it
portrays revenue rather than rehabilitation.

Shitama, M. K. (2013). Bringing our children back from the land of nod: Why the eighth
amendment forbids condemning juveniles to die in prison for accessorial felony murder. Florida
Law Review 65(3), 813-854.
Most of the children that are accused of felony murder are full of trauma prior to the crime itself.
While a child is being tried their background and past traumas should be considered. There is
extraordinary evidence that juveniles have the capacity for change and rehabilitation. There is an
estimate of 2,589 individuals that are sentenced to life without parole for crimes they committed
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before the legal adult age of 18. Where most of these children suffered abuse, neglect, brutality
and lack of adult and family support. These children may have not had the support they needed
which lead them to do unspeakable acts, but these children didn’t choose they life they lived and
if there was support before the crimes most likely these crimes would have not been committed.

Singer, Simon I. (2011). Sentencing Juveniles to Life in Prison: The Reproduction of Juvenile
Justice for Young Adolescents Charged with Murder. Crime & Delinquency, 57(6), 969-986.
Juveniles can be tried in criminal court with simply a waiver. Juvenile court and criminal court
are two different courts. Juvenile court was put in place to rehabilitate and allow the juvenile a
second chance at life after they have served their time. States have expanded waiver legislation
to try juveniles as adults. Crimes in the juvenile system such as accessory to murder and
nonhomicide crimes can easily be tried in criminal court where the possibility of sentencing
juveniles with life without parole. Juvenile court was put in place to protect juveniles from being
victimized of not having their eight amendment right protected. Trying a juvenile as an adult for
the crimes of accessory to murder and nonhomicide crimes is unconstitutional as well as
contradicts what the juvenile court system stands for.