18/05/2010
The US Supreme Court has ruled that to sentence juveniles (under 18 years of age) to life without the prospect of parole for non-homicide offences breaches the prohibition in the Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution on cruel and unusual punishments and is therefore unlawful.
In an appeal by Terrance Jamar Graham who was sixteen when he committed an offence of armed burglary in 2003 the Court ruled by 6-3 on 17th May 2010 to overturn the sentence of life without parole. Graham will now face a fresh sentencing hearing in the state of Florida.
In reaching its decision the Court expressly referred to the practice of other nations including the United Kingdom and noted that the US is the only country in the world which sentences children to life without parole in non-homicide cases. Justice Kennedy who delivered the opinion for the majority said:
“The Court has treated the laws and practices of other nations and international agreements as relevant to the Eighth Amendment not because those norms are binding or controlling but because the judgment of the world’s nations that a particular sentencing practice is inconsistent with basic principles of decency demonstrates that the Court’s rationale has respected reasoning to support it.”
GCN's Mark George Q.C. who has a long association with Amicus , which assists US attorneys in handling death row cases, assisted in writing an amicus curiae brief for the Court which discussed sentencing practice in England and Wales for juveniles convicted of the most serious crimes.
A longer article digesting and commenting on this case will appear here in due course. For other articles by Mark George Q.C. on aspects of US death penalty law and procedure click here .