Graham v. Florida: Review of Supreme Court Decision on Sentencing for Minors

The article below reviews the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in a recent case that challenged Florida’s sentencing system. Although the juvenile defendant was a repeat offender involved in violent felonies, the court found that the sentence of life-without-the-possibility-of-parole (LWOP) was unconstitutional as applied to juveniles. The companion case, also argued before the Court that day, Sullivan v. Florida, No. 08-7621, was dismissed with a subsequent ruling by the Court that the writ of certiorari in Sullivan, was improvidently granted. Nevertheless, the facts of Sullivan, are relevant not only, like Graham, to show the flaws of Florida’s sentencing system, but also to show the relevance of the LWOP sentencing scheme to cases involving sex crimes. Only 12 jurisdictions actually impose life without the possibility of parole sentences for juvenile nonhomicide offenders, and they do so rarely compared with the number of nonhomicide crimes committed by juveniles.