"More States Rethinking Life Sentences for Teens": National Law Journal writer Tresa Baldas reports on legislation in two states, and up for consideration in 11 states, that would end life sentences for those under 18 years old. This would restrict the state's ability to try juveniles as adults. According to Baldas, while efforts to abolish juvenile-lifer laws are nothing new, the legislators' willingness to side with criminal defense lawyers is a change. Juvenile justice reform advocates are lobbying state lawmakers stating that juveniles do not have the intellectual capacity or maturity to consider consequences before acting. Prosecutors are not buying the argument. "The juvenile crusaders are painting a false picture of those adolescents who receive life sentences," said James Reams, president-elect of the National District Attorneys Association. It's not the "kids selling pot" and other petty criminals, but those committing heinous crimes such as thrill-kill murders or "pretty horrific" rapes that are being sentenced to life without parole. In two Florida cases, Graham v. Florida and Sullivan v. Florida, argued in November (CJLF brief on both cases found here),
the Court is considering whether LWOP for juveniles who have committed
crimes other than murder violates the U.S. Constitution's prohibition
on cruel and unusual punishment.
Ohio Executes Inmate After Week-Long Reprieve: Associated Press writer Matt Leingang reports on the execution of Ohio death row inmate Lawrence Reynolds Jr., on Tuesday. Reynolds was convicted of killing Loretta Foster, a 67-year-old widow who babysat children in her neighborhood and lived three doors down from him in Cuyahoga Falls. Reynolds had sued the state, saying it still hasn't corrected problems with accessing inmates' veins before the single drug in injected. He lost his final court battle Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene. His death came nine days after prison guards found Reynolds unconscious in his cell from a suicide attempt. Leingang's report on his attempt can be found in our March 8 News Scan. Reynolds is the fourth inmate to be put to death under Ohio's new lethal injection procedure, which uses one drug instead of three.
Returning Veterans Find Sympathy in Courts: New York Times writer John Schwartz reports on a growing trend towards creating special courts to ensure that veterans in court receive the treatment their service entitles them to. "More and more courts are noticing and asserting, in a variety of ways, that there seems to be some relevance to military service, or history of wartime service, to our country," said Douglas A. Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University and an expert on sentencing. There are about 1 million veterans of the two current wars in the Veterans Affairs system so far, and statistics suggest that 27 percent of active-duty veterans returning to civilian life were at risk for mental health problems including post-traumatic stress syndrome. Lighter sentences are part of a broader fight over once-rigid federal guildelines that tend to punish the crime while giving little weight to circumstances of the defendant. The guidelines explicitly state that "good works" like military service "are not ordinarily relevant" in determining whether to give sentences below the recommended range. The Supreme Court, however, in a series of cases, has declared that the federal sentencing guidlelines are advisory, not mandatory. The United States Sentencing Commission is considering proposals that would allow military service or other evidence of "prior good works" to be considered as mitigating factors in sentencing decisions. A veteran's court in Orange County was reported on in this L.A. Times article last year.
Ohio Executes Inmate After Week-Long Reprieve: Associated Press writer Matt Leingang reports on the execution of Ohio death row inmate Lawrence Reynolds Jr., on Tuesday. Reynolds was convicted of killing Loretta Foster, a 67-year-old widow who babysat children in her neighborhood and lived three doors down from him in Cuyahoga Falls. Reynolds had sued the state, saying it still hasn't corrected problems with accessing inmates' veins before the single drug in injected. He lost his final court battle Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene. His death came nine days after prison guards found Reynolds unconscious in his cell from a suicide attempt. Leingang's report on his attempt can be found in our March 8 News Scan. Reynolds is the fourth inmate to be put to death under Ohio's new lethal injection procedure, which uses one drug instead of three.
Returning Veterans Find Sympathy in Courts: New York Times writer John Schwartz reports on a growing trend towards creating special courts to ensure that veterans in court receive the treatment their service entitles them to. "More and more courts are noticing and asserting, in a variety of ways, that there seems to be some relevance to military service, or history of wartime service, to our country," said Douglas A. Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University and an expert on sentencing. There are about 1 million veterans of the two current wars in the Veterans Affairs system so far, and statistics suggest that 27 percent of active-duty veterans returning to civilian life were at risk for mental health problems including post-traumatic stress syndrome. Lighter sentences are part of a broader fight over once-rigid federal guildelines that tend to punish the crime while giving little weight to circumstances of the defendant. The guidelines explicitly state that "good works" like military service "are not ordinarily relevant" in determining whether to give sentences below the recommended range. The Supreme Court, however, in a series of cases, has declared that the federal sentencing guidlelines are advisory, not mandatory. The United States Sentencing Commission is considering proposals that would allow military service or other evidence of "prior good works" to be considered as mitigating factors in sentencing decisions. A veteran's court in Orange County was reported on in this L.A. Times article last year.
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