Life without parole is the wrong thing

Originally published by: Companies&Markets
1st June 2010

In a decision being hailed as a great step forward for criminal justice in the United States, the Supreme Court ruled, in a 6-3 decision, that sentencing juveniles to life without the possibility of parole for a crime that doesn’t involve homicide, is now unconstitutional.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the decision, stated that the “judgment of the world’s nations” should be taken into account when judges in this country assess what is cruel and unusual punishment. Yes, this is a small step in the right direction, but it’s also a disturbing statement of reality that most prison reform activists seem to be missing.

Three justices of the United States Supreme Court believe that sentencing a juvenile to a long and slow death penalty is always a reasonable sentence, and one more thinks it’s okay sometimes. And the conservative, discipline and punish crowd are appalled that anyone should challenge the status quo of burying as many people as possible, for as long as possible, for as many crimes as possible.

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Posted by Kushi Amlak-Sakhu on 03/06/2010. Filed under Policy & Reform. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry