No Parole!? Whaaaa----

In this article,in short, it was said that sentencing teenagers for life without parole is a cruel and unusual punishment that goes against the 8th amendment.
They are mostly looking at people with non-murder cases. Here it states that in Florida, prisons hold 70% of juvenile defendants. Overall there are about 2500 cases of people serving life sentences.

In Florida two specific cases are being looked at; Joe Sullivan (13 when sentenced) and Terrance Graham (16).

Sullivan(to the left), who is now 34, was found guilty of raping an elderly woman.
While Graham, now 22, was guilty of armed robbery while on parole.

Pro Arguments

• Four years ago the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty would not affect people under 18-why not make this for life sentences too?
  
• Second Chance
  
• Children are less culpable than adults.
  
• It is a bad idea to render a final judgment about people so young. "They are unfinished products, works-in-progress"-unknown.
  

Con Arguments

• It is difficult to discern adults from minors psychologically.
  
• Why would a kid get constitutional rights to hope while adults don't?
  

If a man who did a drunken hit and run get 24 days, why should a teenager get a life sentence for stealing on probation? That is what I don't understand. Aren't driving drunk and killing frowned upon more so than stealing? Many of the juvies put to life sentences were by assosciation! Whether the reason be fame or double standards this is an issue of morals. Is it right to send a teenager to life in jail? and why should a teenager get special privileges? It is not right to send them to jail and because teenagers are easier to rehabilitate than adults. The younger the mind, the more malleable it is. Teenagers are different than adults.

Some argue that the juvenile court need to be revamped to keep up with the more violent crimes teenagers commit. Many courts have low funding and don't get the proper care it needs. If we put more attention into this it would surely help! The juvenile court system was made specifically because not only teenagers, but children are different than adults and need to be tried and persecuted differently. It is cruel and unusual to not give the youth a second chance.

'Stevenson noted that juveniles on death row in Florida — all convicted of murder — "got a better sentence than Joe Sullivan," life prison terms with the possibility of parole.'