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- Title
Cruel and Unusual: The Effect of Miller v. Alabama on the Indefinite Civil Confinement of Juvenile Sex Offenders.
- Authors
Shute, Tiffany M.
- Abstract
The juvenile justice system in the United States was developed on the premise that individuals under the age of eighteen who commit crimes do not act with the same degree of responsibility as their adult counterparts and should therefore be treated differently. The development of a separate criminal justice system for children focuses on three factors: (1) a recognition that their behavior is very strongly influenced by their social and fa milial environment; (2) a concern that the limited autonomy of their behavior makes punishment unfair; and (3) a belief that, because of their vulnerability to being influenced by their environments, it is possible to modify their behavior and prevent future crimes as adults. In 2012, the Supreme Court held, in Miller v. Alabama, that mandatory life sentences without parole for juvenile offenders violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. While the Supreme Court has put an end to life imprisonment without parole, there are still juvenile offenders who are civilly confined indefinitely as sexually dangerous persons. This Note will examine the similarities and differences between juvenile civil confinement and juvenile life without parole, and establish that indefinite civil confinement of juveniles is, and should be held, unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
- Subjects
UNITED States; LEGAL status of child sex offenders; CRUEL &; unusual punishment; MILLER v. Alabama; JUVENILE justice administration; JUVENILE parole; CAPITAL punishment of juvenile offenders; UNITED States. Constitution. 8th Amendment; UNITED States. Supreme Court; LAW
- Publication
New England Journal on Criminal & Civil Confinement, 2015, Vol 41, Issue 1, p225
- ISSN
0740-8994
- Publication type
Article