Running head: SENTENCING A JUVENILE TO LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE

Should Juveniles be Sentenced to Life without Parole?

Kayla M. Salcido
ENC 1101
1 December 2014
Professor Weyl

SENTENCING A JUVENILE TO LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE

Should Juveniles be Sentenced to Life Without Parole?

Currently, the United States of America is the only country that allows juvenile offenders
to be sentenced to life in jail without parole. Sentencing a juvenile to life in jail without parole
has remained a controversial topic throughout the world. Research has caused dispute over the
idea of imposing an adult punishment on a juvenile. However, based on recent research on
adolescent brain and behavioral development, juveniles are considerably different from adults. It
has been shown that juveniles are different from adults in areas such as maturity, rational
thinking and decision making, brain development, and even the ability to be rehabilitated. In
addition to this, there have existed legal arguments stating that sentencing a juvenile to life
without parole is unconstitutional and is furthermore a violation of the eighth amendment.
Deborah LaBelle and Fred Mester once said:
The United States is the only country left that sends juveniles under the age of 18
to prison for life without the opportunity for release. The law in Michigan is that
one who is charged with first-degree murder or felony murder, is tried as an adult.
There is no alternative, but life in prison without parole. In Michigan we have 362
who have been given this sentence under the age of 18. Over a third of the
juveniles given the sentence did not physically themselves commit the homicide
(ACLUofMichigan, 2013).
Sentencing a juvenile to life in prison without parole is the largest punishment an adolescent can
face for any delinquent act he or she may have committed. There are a wide range of arguments
stating that the maturity level of an adolescent is increasingly different from the maturity level of
an adult. According to research (Scott & Steinberg, 2006), in 2005 the United States Supreme
Court put an end to the juvenile death penalty as it was considered a cruel and unusual

SENTENCING A JUVENILE TO LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE

punishment. This research emphasized that the immaturity of adolescents made them less
responsible than an adult for committing a similar crime. It is also fact that the lack of
psychological development has further added to juvenile immaturity. Psychological development
is defined as the development of human beings cognitive, emotional, intellectual, and social
capabilities over the course of the life span (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2014). This lack of
psychological development means that juveniles are not as capable of making the right, or most
mature, choices. Thus, they are less responsible for all offenses that they may choose to commit
(Cauffman & Steinberg, 2000). In addition to this, research has shown that if there is a lack of
neurological development in a juveniles life, then it can strongly impact their maturity. These
developments and the amount of maturity an adolescent holds has shown a great difference in the
way an adolescent understands a situation versus the way an adult understands. This therefore
causes adolescences to make irrational decisions (Locke, 1979).
Through research, it has been shown that there is an enormous difference between an
adult and an adolescent and their ability to think rationally. In fact, in 2005, the United States
Supreme Court agreed that children below the age of 18 were unable to make rational decisions.
This idea thus prohibited children under the age of 18 from being allowed to vote and
furthermore serve on juries (Corrington, 2010). The court argued that adolescents do not
maintain full maturity to be able to make such grand decisions. Additionally, the United States
Supreme Court noted that there are several major differences between adults and adolescences.
One of these major differences is that adolescences lack maturity and responsibility and it is
therefore more difficult for them to make rational decisions, meaning they are an added risk
(Scott & Steinberg, 2006). Thus, the court argued that adolescences and adults are not the same
as they are not able to make the same reasonable decisions. Juveniles therefore should not be

SENTENCING A JUVENILE TO LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE

fully responsible for the acts they commit. However, although the court has already argued that
these two age groups are immensely different from one another, the court believes that a juvenile
and an adult should both be given the same punishment of being sentenced to life in prison
without parole considering that they commit the same crime.
Additionally, research has further shown that a persons brain continues to develop
throughout their adolescent lifespan (Bennett and Baird, 2005). Some scientists agree with the
idea that the reason adolescents make irrational decisions and take more risks is because of the
undeveloped prefrontal cortex. According to research, the prefrontal cortex does not fully
develop until a person is between their mid-20s and mid-30s. When this prefrontal cortex is
underdeveloped, it allows a adolescent to make more irrational decisions and, as previously
stated, take more risks (Cauffman & Steinberg, 2000). Research continues to show that a vital
stage in brain development is what is known as myelination. Myelination is when myelin forms
around axons inside the human brain. This myelination improves the capability for an axon to
receive power thus allowing a fully developed adult brain to function in a rational manner. Since
an adolescent has an underdeveloped brain, it prohibits he or she to fully process their choices
and the decisions they choose to make further causing them to think and engage in irrational
decisions (Bennett & Baird, 2005). In addition to this, research has also shown that as an adult
gets older, they make and commit to less risky decisions. An experiment comparing the
prospective of adolescents when making a risky decision and an adult when making a risky
decision concluded that the adult made more rational choices. Although there were many factors
that pertained to this conclusion, the adult ultimately made more rational choices due to full brain
development as compared to the underdeveloped brain of an adolescent (Crone, et al., 2008).

SENTENCING A JUVENILE TO LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE

Also, there is the idea of rehabilitating an adolescent as opposed to an adult. A claim

formerly made stated that juveniles hold a greater chance of being rehabilitated versus adults,
who exhibit less of a chance. Currently, however, the focus has been shifted from rehabilitation
to punishment. Founder and executive director of equal justice, Bryan A. Stevenson once said:
Life without parole is supposed to be a judgment that says this person is beyond hope,
beyond redemption, beyond rehabilitation. This person has been given the chance to
change and hasnt, and therefore should be properly condemned for their commitment to
criminality, to violence, to their destruction. You can never say that about a child thats 13
or 14 (MacFound, 2010).
At the beginning, the juvenile justices focus was on rehabilitating and treating the said juvenile.
During this time, the focus over juveniles was to treat and assign them to programs relating to
their needs which was considered rehabilitation in an effort to aid them (Frtiz, 2010).
Rehabilitation is more amendable on adolescences because they lack the moral maturity of
adults. It has been shown that juvenile delinquency is primarily caused by influence. These
influences can be from outside sources such as poverty, neglect, abuse, and/or the absence of one
or both parents. However, most adults do not lack moral maturity, resulting in them being less
amendable to rehabilitation (Steinberg & Scott, 2010).
Lastly, one of the main arguments made for sentencing a juvenile to life without parole is
that it is a violation of the eighth amendment. The United States Supreme Court has agreed to
hear the argument that the eighth amendments ban on cruel and unusual punishment is against
sentencing a juvenile to life without parole (Massey, 2006). The eighth amendment states that
excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines shall be imposed, and nor cruel and
unusual punishment shall be inflicted (U.S. Const. art. VIII, 1). This amendment banned cruel

SENTENCING A JUVENILE TO LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE

and unusual punishment in order to keep the court from giving away an inappropriate
punishment for the crime committed. In court, they have discussed whether sentencing a juvenile
to life in prison without parole is in violation of the amendment. However, there has yet to be a
conclusion on whether sentencing a juvenile to life without parole is a violation of the eighth
amendment.
In conclusion, when researching this topic carefully, it is shown that juveniles being
sentenced to life without parole should be prohibited. Through research, it is shown that
adolescences are greatly different from adults. Adolescents are not mature enough to make
rational decisions and their prospective on certain situations is greatly different from their adult
counterparts. As they are unable to fully comprehend their decisions and actions, they are led to
make irrational decisions. The largest reason supporting these facts is that the human brain is not
fully developed until ones mid 20s or even as far as 30s. The adolescents undeveloped brain
does not have the necessities to make fully rational choices. Furthermore, a juvenile is more
amendable to rehabilitation as compared to an adult; this can act as a source of treatment rather
than a strict punishment over the juveniles life. Lastly, claims have been made stating that
sentencing a juvenile to life without parole is a violation of the eighth amendment. However,
there has been no conclusion as to whether this is true. Thus the question still remains: Should an
adult punishment be imposed on a juvenile?

SENTENCING A JUVENILE TO LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE

References
Bennet, M. C., & Baird, A. (2005, November). Anatomical Changes in the Emerging Adult
Brain: a Voxel-Based. Retrieved from:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hbm

20218/ abstract (SCF)

Cauffman, E., & Steinberg, L. (2000). (Im)maturity of judgment in Adolescence: why

adolescents

may be less culpable than adults. Retrieved from:

http://www2.law.columbia.edu/fagan/
courses/law_socialscience/juvenile_justice/documents/Cauffman_and_Steinberg.pdf (SCF
database)

Corrington, L.D. (2010, August). Life without parole for juvenile offenders: questions of legality
and adolescent culpability. Retrieved from:
http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/
metadc31530/m2/1/high_res_d/thesis.pdf (SCF)
Crone, E. A., Bullens, L., Van der Plas, E.A.A., Kijkuit, E. J., & Zelazo, P. D. (2008).
Developmental changes and individual differences in risk and perspective taking in
adolescence. Retrieved from:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0954579408000588
Encyclopedia Britannica. (2014) Physiological development. Retrieved from: http://
www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/481644/psychological-development
Fritz, K. G. (2010). Sentencing juveniles to life without the possibility of parole. Retrieved from:
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%7CA234

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Locke, J. (1979). An essay concerning human understanding. Retrieved from: http://
www.libraries.psu.edu/tas/locke/bib/ch0e.html
MacFound (2010, May). Bryan Stevenson on life without parole: juvenile justice |
macarthur foundation. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=u4ONZV2u1qw
Massey, H. J. (2006). Disposing of children: the eighth amendment and juvenile life without
parole after roper. Retrieved from: http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/cgi/
viewcontent.cgi?article=2343&context=bclr (Scf database)
Scott, E., & Steinberg, L. (2006). Adolescent development and the regulation of youth crime.
Retrieved from: http://futureofchildren.org/futureofchildren/publications/docs/
18_02_02.pdf (SCF database)
Steinberg, L., & Scott, E. (2010). Should juvenile offenders ever be sentenced to life without the
possibility of parole. Retrieved from:
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.db15.linccweb.org/

ehost/detail/detail (SCF)

ACLUofMichigan (2013, Aug). Unlocking hope: juvenile life without parole sentences in
michigan. Retrieved from : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTBB91Kk2ZQ
U.S. Const., amend. VIII, 1