Abstract

This Case Comment argues that The Supreme Court of the United States decided the issues in Jones v. Mississippi correctly because the Court properly adhered to its retributionist foundation for sentencing juveniles which underlies the Court’s juvenile jurisprudence. But, present in is a tension between the Court’s earlier decided cases and Jones. To resolve that tension, this Case Comment asserts that lawmakers should entirely abolish life without parole sentences for juvenile defendants rather than reverting to what has developed into a flawed constitutional minimum in juvenile jurisprudence. An abolition on such sentences is consistent with developmental psychology and a corrective measure for misconceptions about juvenile development used to justify discriminatory ineffective juvenile sentencing regimes. By examining the evolution of the Court’s juvenile jurisprudence in perspective of developmental psychology, this Case Comment affirms the holding in Jones while arguing that state legislature should rely on developmental psychology to craft a legal system that provides all juveniles the opportunity to rehabilitation, without assuring their eventual release. Ultimately, this Case Comment makes a persuasive case for state legislature must move away from the almost undefinable standard of permanently incorrigible and toward eliminating life without parole sentences for all juveniles.

Keywords: Jones, Juvenile, LWOP