LEGISLATIVE ISSUE BRIEF
CREATING FAIR AND AGE-APPROPRIATE SENTENCES
FOR CHILDREN WHO COMMIT SERIOUS CRIMES
Today, approximately 2,500 individuals have been sentenced to life without parole for crimes committed as
children. The United States is the only country in the world that sentences our children to die in prison. This
practice stands in direct contradiction to Article 37 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which
prohibits children from being subject to “torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment,” including the use of “capital punishment and life without the possibility of release” as a
sentencing option for children under 18 years of age. The American Bar Association has also opposed the
imposition of the death penalty for children, as well as life without parole for children.
U.S. children sentenced to life in prison without parole are often the most vulnerable members of our society.
Nearly 80 percent of juvenile lifers reported witnessing violence in their homes; more than half (54.1%)
witnessed weekly violence in their neighborhoods. In addition, 50 percent of all children sentenced to life in
prison without the possibility of parole have been physically abused and 20 percent have been sexually abused
during their life.
Adolescent Development Research
We know from behavioral and brain development research that children who commit crimes are more likely
to reform their behavior and have a better chance at rehabilitation than adults. Recent scientific studies have
shown that children’s brains are not fully developed. Therefore, children are less capable than adults in longterm planning, the regulation of emotion, impulse control, and the evaluation of risk and reward. Children are
more vulnerable, more susceptible to peer pressure and heavily influenced by their surrounding environment,
which is rarely in their control. Child brain development experts have concluded as a result of their studies
that “adolescents are less culpable than typical adults because of their diminished decision-making capacity.”
Disproportionate Minority Impact
Extreme sentences for children disproportionately impact children of color. On average across the country,
black children are serving life without parole at a per capita rate that is 10 times that of non-minority children.
Fiscal Burden on States
It costs approximately $2.5 million to incarcerate a child for life in the United States. Collectively the 2,500
individuals sentenced to life without parole will cost taxpayers an estimated $6.2 billion over their lifetimes. In
contrast, a productive, tax paying and college-educated adult contributes over $1 million to society over their
lifetimes. If paroled after serving 10 years after being incarcerated at age 16, a child with only a high school
education could potentially contribute in tax revenue $218,560 if they work until age 66 after release from
prison. Formerly incarcerated children who obtain a college degree will contribute $706,560 in tax revenue.
Flawed Research that led to Extreme Penalties for Children
Flawed research in the 1990’s theorized that a new class of “super-predator” children had emerged who were
more violent, remorseless, and radical than ever before. As a result, states passed a barrage of laws creating
extreme, and now in some cases unconstitutional, criminal penalties for children which sent many of them to
prison to die. This research has since been debunked and its authors have expressed regret and remorse for
the impact it had in encouraging states to pass draconian laws to punish children.
The U.S. Supreme Court
In June 2012, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Miller v. Alabama that mandatory life-without-parole
(JLWOP) sentences for children violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual
punishment. This most recent ruling is in line with the Court’s previous decisions in Roper v. Simmons (2005)
and Graham v. Florida (2010) where the Court abolished the use of the death penalty for children and lifewithout-parole sentences for children who are convicted of non-homicide offenses, respectively. Central to
the Court’s holding in all three cases was the proposition that children are “constitutionally different” from
adults and that sentencing laws need to take this into account.
The Court in Roper, Graham and Miller emphasized the importance of child status when determining fair and
age-appropriate sentences for children who come into conflict with the law. The Miller Court emphasized that
trial courts considering imposing life without parole sentences for children must “take into account how
children are different, and how those differences counsel against irrevocably sentencing them to a lifetime in
prison.” Because children have diminished culpability and greater prospects for reform than an adult who
commits the same crime, “they are less deserving of the most severe punishments.”
Legislative Recommendations
Instead of condemning children to prison for the rest of their lives, they should be held accountable in an age
appropriate manner that comports with Constitutional and International standards for sentencing children.
Any legislation seeking to address the extreme sentencing of children for serious crimes should:
1. End the imposition of extreme sentences – including eliminating life-without-parole as a sentencing
option for children. By enacting legislation that abolishes life without parole sentences for children, states
can align local policy with current scientific research. National trends are moving away from this harsh
approach to crimes committed by children and focusing instead on a child’s rehabilitation and possible
reintegration into society. Texas, Wyoming, Kentucky, Kansas, Delaware, Colorado, Montana, West
Virginia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, Nevada, and Alaska all prohibit life without
parole for children as a sentencing option through their statutes. In addition, states should consider enacting
reforms that create age-appropriate sentencing alternatives for children who commit serious crimes and are
transferred to adult courts.
2. Ensure that child status and other characteristics of youthfulness are considered at sentencing.
Legislature’s should adopt sentencing procedures that require trial courts to consider the key factors,
articulated by the Supreme Court, before imposing any sentence on a child transferred to adult court,
including: (1) the child’s age and its features including immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to appreciate risks
and consequences; (2) the child’s family and home environment; (3) the circumstances of the offense,
including the extent of the child’s participation and the way familial and peer pressures may have affected his
or her behavior; (4) the child’s lack of sophistication in dealing with a criminal justice system that is designed
for adults; (5) intellectual capacity; (6) traumatic history and involvement in the child welfare system; (7) the
possibility of rehabilitation; and (8) any other mitigating factor or circumstance. Florida, Nevada, and West
Virginia have enacted laws requiring judges to consider similar factors prior to sentencing children for
serious crimes.
3. Create meaningful periodic opportunities for release for all children sentenced for serious crimes.
Adolescent development experts following the Supreme Court’s decisions have recommended periodic
review after age 25 for those who were under the age of 18 at the time of the offense. Legislative reform
should create a review board to periodically evaluate the sentence an individual was given as a child by
considering the following factors: (1) a review of educational and court documents, (2) participation in
rehabilitative and educational programs while in prison, (3) age at the time of offense, (4) immaturity, (5)
ability to appreciate the risks and consequences of the conduct, (6) intellectual capacity, (7) level of
participation in the offense, (8) efforts made toward rehabilitation, (9) any other evidence submitted by the
individuals counsel, and (10) any other mitigating factors or circumstances. California, Florida, Delaware,
West Virginia, and Nevada in recent years have passed legislation allowing children convicted of serious
crimes to seek a parole or re-sentencing hearing.
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Contact Us
For more information please contact our Advocacy Director, James Dold, at [email protected].