October 19, 2016
The Louisiana Supreme Court today held that sentencing a child to a term of years that is the functional equivalent of life imprisonment without parole is unconstitutional. It is the latest in a growing number of state court decisions applying United States Supreme Court precedent barring almost all death-in-prison sentences for children.
With this decision, Louisiana joins the growing consensus of state courts taking a realistic approach to constitutional sentences for children by requiring new sentences that actually provide a meaningful opportunity for release once the child has matured and rehabilitated. While some sentencing judges responded to Graham and Miller by replacing life-without-parole sentences with sentences requiring 60, 90, or even 175 years before any possibility of release, those sentences consistently have been reversed on appeal, as state appeals courts recognize that simply changing the label is "arbitrary and baseless," and does not comply with the Eighth Amendment's recognition that children are inherently capable of redemption.
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