In the next session of the Connecticut legislature, there must be a priority to pass legislation that will give a “second look” at lengthy juvenile prison sentences. In several recent cases the U.S. Supreme Court has held that juveniles sentenced to life without parole must be given some “meaningful opportunity” for release “based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation.” This is the so-called “second look.” In Graham v. Florida, the Court held that the Eighth Amendment prohibits juveniles who commit non-homicide crimes from being sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. To do so would be to conclude “at the outset that those offenders will never be fit to reenter society.” (130 S.Ct. 2011, 2010).
Last year the U.S. Supreme Court, in Miller v. Alabama, even rejected a sentence of life without parole for a juvenile convicted of murder. The Court held in essence that, because a juvenile’s mental development is not as well formed as that of an adult, the juvenile is more capable of change. The Court stated that a court must “take into account how children are different, and how those differences counsel against irrevocably sentencing them to a life in prison.” (132 S.Ct. 2455, 2012). The juvenile should be entitled to a second look to see if he or she has reformed sufficiently to have the sentence reduced.
