USSC Ruling on Life for Juveniles will have Wide Impact in

Florida

By: JAN PUDLOW

Senior Editor
The Florida Bar News

The second harshest possible sentence – life in prison without parole –

is unconstitutional when imposed on juveniles who did not kill anyone, the
U.S. Supreme Court ruled May 17 in a Florida case.
News of the highly anticipated landmark ruling in Graham v. Florida
(SC08-7412) – declaring Terrance Graham’s sentence at age 16 for armed
burglary and a subsequent violation of probation when he was 17 was “cruel
and unusual punishment” under the 8th Amendment – spread across the
state, nation, and globe.
The court noted that the United States is the only country that imposes
life without parole sentences on juveniles for non-homicides, and Florida has
77 of 129 such cases nationwide.
“Terrance’s sentence of life without the possibility of parole was cruel
because it condemned Terrance to die in prison for an adolescent crime that,
though serious, did not involve the taking of a life,” said Bryan Gowdy, of the
Jacksonville firm Mills, Creed & Gowdy, who argued the case before the U.S.
Supreme Court November 9th.
“It was cruel because it determined, based on adolescent conduct, that
Terrance was forever incapable of change and reform and forever unfit to
live in society. This sentence cruelly ignored the differences between
adolescents and adults. We all know, and scientists have confirmed, that
adolescents are less culpable, less mature, more vulnerable, and more likely
to change and reform with time.”
The vote was 6 to 3 to reverse and remand the case for resentencing
of Graham, now 23.
“Terrance Graham’s sentence guarantees he will die in prison without
any meaningful opportunity to obtain release, no matter what he might do to
demonstrate that the bad acts he committed as a teenager are not
representative of his true character, even if he spends the next half century
attempting to atone for his crimes and learn from his mistakes,” Justice
Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the majority.
“The State has denied him any chance to later demonstrate that he is
fit to rejoin society based solely on a non-homicide crime that he committed
while he was a child in the eyes of the law. This, the 8th Amendment does not
permit.”