High court to decide whether young murderers can one day go free

[alp227]

Source: LA Times

The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether young murderers who are sentenced to life in prison have a right to seek their freedom after years behind bars.

The court said Monday it will hear the appeal of a Louisiana man who was 17 in 1963 when he killed a police officer in Baton Rouge. He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance for parole. The murder took place about a week before President Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas.

The court will hear arguments in the fall about whether Henry Montgomery, now 68, and other convicts like him deserve at least a chance to seek release on parole.

The outcome will affect several hundred prisoners around the nation who are serving life terms for murders they committed when they were younger than 18.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-court-young-murderers-20150323-story.html

[davidpdx]

1. It may also affect the trial of the two 12 year-olds that stabbed their classmate

If they are sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole it would mean they still have a chance of getting out someday.

[me b zola]

2. Life time incarceration of children is one of two reasons why the US does not sign UN treaty

Life time incarceration of children is one of two reasons why the US does not sign UN treaty on rights of children. The other reason is that the US continues the antiquated* practice of sealing the identity records away from adopted people.

The US is one of only 3 nations who have yet to sign the treaty. The other two nations are Somalia and South Sudan. Somalia however, has begun the process of ratifying the treaty leaving South Sudan and the US as the only members of the UN to not recognize the rights of children.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Rights_of_the_Child






*barbaric

[davidpdx]

3. My question in the instance of murder is should children be given light sentences?

First, I support rehabilitation for both children an adults. The question becomes how much do you sentence someone for the taking of another's life even if the murder is a child themselves?

Most states allow children (if tried as a minor) to be released at 18, 21, or 25 (depending upon the state's law). There are several current cases, the murder of Skyler Neese in West Virginia by two of her friends who were 16, the stabbing of Peyton Lightner (who did survive) in Wisconsin by two friends who were 12, and so on. Both of these cases are horrid and they aren't the only ones. In the case of Lightner should she have to fear these girls at some point might come back to get revenge. The death of a child is bad enough, but when it is at the hands of another child one has to wonder just what is wrong with them.

The murders of Neese could very well get out by the time they are in the mid-20's. Her parents will never get her back. This was premeditated murder.

In the other case of Lightner the judge has said they will be tried as adults, but that very well could (and I think probably will) change with them being tried as juveniles. If I remember correctly in Wisconsin they hold a juvenile up to 25 (could be less).

I don't feel sorry for the two sets of girls (I use that term because they are all minors) who are (or will be) going to jail. They need serious help and they don't deserve to be back out in society for a good long time. Not until they can prove that they aren't a threat and show some remorse for what they did.

[happyslug]

4. What states are you talking about?? Murder by a Juvenile in 46 states was and is life imprisonment.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/whenkidsgetlife/etc/map.html

Alaska, Kansas, Montana, Oregon were the only states (in 2010, just before the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional) that did NOT permit Life without parole for juveniles convicted of Murder. In 24 states life without Parole was MANDATORY. In the remaining state it was discretionary up to the Judge sentencing the youth:

http://www.hrw.org/news/2009/10/02/state-distribution-juvenile-offenders-serving-juvenile-life-without-parole

The majority of sentences to life without parole for youth have been imposed in states where judges are obligated to impose it as a mandatory sentence, without consideration of any factors relating to a child’s age or life circumstances.

More than 25% of people serving life without parole after being sentenced as children were convicted of felony murder or accomplice liability, meaning they were not the primary perpetrators of the crime, and may not have even been present at the time someone was killed.

The majority of youth sentenced to life without parole are concentrated in just five states: California, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. (California’s Senate Bill 9, the Fair Sentencing of Youth Act, provides re-sentencing and parole opportunities to youth under 18 sentenced to life without parole. The bill was signed by Governor Brown in 2012 and applies retroactively to the nearly 300 “juvenile lifers” currently serving in California prisons.)

Children sentence 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.
African American youth are sentenced to life without parole as children at a per capita rate that is 10 times that of White youth.

80 percent of girls and nearly half of all children sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole have been physically abused.

77 percent of girls and 20 percent of all youth lifers said they have been sexually abused.

http://fairsentencingofyouth.org/what-is-jlwop/

[davidpdx]

8. Oregon was one of the states I was referring to

In the West Virginia case I mentioned (the murder of Skyler Neese) the two underage females who were 16 were tried as adults, but were NOT sentenced to life. I honestly don't think they would have fared worse being tried as juveniles. That map is also six years old. The laws in some of those states have likely changed.

From Wikipedia

Criminal charges[edit]
On May 1, 2013, Rachel Shoaf pleaded guilty to second degree murder.[3][18] According to the court transcript, Shoaf said that she and Shelia Eddy picked up Neese in Eddy's car. The girls drove to Pennsylvania, got out of the car, and began socializing. At a pre-arranged time, Shoaf and Eddy stabbed Skylar to death on the count of three.[19] The teens attempted to bury Neese's body, but were unable to do so and instead covered the body with branches. The court transcript indicates that other students overheard conversations between Shoaf and Eddy about the murder plot, but failed to report it, thinking they were joking.[3] According to Shoaf's plea agreement,[20] she pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree by "unlawfully, feloniously, willfully, maliciously and intentionally causing the death of Skylar Neese by stabbing her and causing fatal injuries". In the plea agreement, the State of West Virginia will recommend a sentence of forty years incarceration.[18][20] Shoaf's family issued a public apology for her actions through their lawyer.[21]

On September 4, 2013, West Virginia prosecutors publicly identified Shelia Eddy as the second alleged perpetrator of the murder of Skylar Neese and announced that she would be tried as an adult.[22] Eddy was indicted by a grand jury on September 6, 2013 with one count of kidnapping, one count of first-degree murder, and one count of conspiracy to commit murder.[23] Shelia Eddy pleaded not guilty to these charges.[24]

The date of the trial was originally set for January 28, 2014,[25] but on January 24 – four days prior to the trial – Shelia Eddy changed her Not Guilty plea to Guilty to first degree murder with mercy. As a result, Eddy was sentenced to life imprisonment, with parole eligibility after she has served 15 years.[26]

Following her guilty plea on May 1, 2013, Rachel Shoaf was remanded on charges of second degree murder and sentenced to 30 years imprisonment on February 26, 2014, with parole eligibility after she has served 10 years.[27][28]

Eddy was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole 30 years. Her actions AFTER the murder indicate that pathologically she had some major problems (she not only stayed close to the victims family and helped distribute flyers, but she also egged on the police on Twitter). Shoaf was sentenced to 30 years but will be eligible for parole in 10 years. Neither of them got life without parole

[alcibiades_mystery]

5. Life without parole for minors is horrendous and stupid

Indeed, life without parole should be used extremely sparingly, primarily for predicate violent felons and people with multiple convictions for murder (i.e., serial killers). Hopefully, the court will allow for possibility of parole for minors. Then we can start chipping away at this dumb sentence for other classes of offenders.

[marble falls]

6. Not that I have hope that the Robert's court will do the right thing, I'm glad that someone will....

looking on a national level at what is effectively a death penalty given to children.

[mopinko]

7. they'll do it because it saves money.

heaven save us from those we turned into irredeemable monsters in our prison systems.

but these old guys are gonna cost them a lot of money as their health fails. so they will dump them on the streets now.