As county agencies around Pennsylvania begin to implement a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on juveniles unconstitutionally sentenced to life without parole, a raft of conflicts, concerns and complications have made clear that the process will require significant time and resources to complete.
When the high court ruled Jan. 25 in Montgomery v. Louisiana, finding that its 2012 ruling in Miller v. Alabama making the sentences unconstitutional was retroactive, it immediately put district attorneys, public defenders and court systems to work. Pennsylvania is home to nearly one-fifth of the inmates affected by Montgomery—479 in total, according to the Department of Corrections.
