DOIAbstract
The United States is the only industrialized country that sentences individuals to spend the remainder of their lives in prison for a crime they committed before the age of eighteen. The justice system established the sentencing of juveniles to life in prison without the possibility of parole to deter juvenile delinquency. Life without parole was regarded as an appropriate punishment following the rise of juvenile crime during the 1980s and 1990s. However, as psychological differences between juveniles and adults became more prominent, society began to regard life without the possibility of parole as a cruel and unusual punishment. Although some juveniles commit heinous crimes that warrant a life in prison, others receive the same punishmen...
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