I’ve been thinking about the Court’s grant of cert. in two cases in which Juveniles were sentenced to long prison terms for crimes in which no one was killed. Lyle Denniston has some great analysis on the matter here. Another thing odd about these cases is that the Court considered them at several consecutive conference [...]

The Supreme Court granted review today in two cases revolving around whether or not sentencing children to long-term prison sentences for non-capital crimes constitutes cruel and unusual punishment as defined by the Eight Amendment. In Sullivan v. Florida, Joe Sullivan was 13-years old when convicted of raping an elderly woman and in Graham v. Florida, [...]