Articles

High court to look at life in prison for juveniles

Category: National Published on Thursday, 12 November 2009 12:15 Written by Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP)—The Supreme Court is considering whether sentencing a juvenile to life in prison with no chance of parole is cruel and unusual punishment, particularly if the crime is less serious than homicide.

The cases being heard Nov. 9 involve two Florida convicts. Joe Sullivan was sent away for life for raping an elderly woman when he was 13. Terrance Graham was implicated in armed robberies when he was 16 and 17.

SENTENCED TO LIFE—This 2002 photo provided by the Equal Justice Initiative shows 15-year-old Terrance Graham in Jacksonville, Fla. Graham, implicated in armed robberies when he was 16 and 17, was given a life sentence without parole by a judge who told the teenager he threw his life away.

Graham, now 22, and Sullivan, now 33, are in Florida prisons, which hold more than 70 percent of juvenile defendants locked up for life for crimes other than homicide.

Lawyers for Graham and Sullivan argue that it is a bad idea to render a final judgment about people so young.

The group Human Rights Watch says Ohio has two inmates who were sentenced to life while they were juveniles.