ʼMaryland is among the leading states where juveniles face mandatory sentencing without parole. The high numbers result from the sentencing laws put in place long ago which include mandatory minimums. At the end of 2016, Maryland recorded approximately number of 2,300 juveniles serving without parole. The court ruling made by the supreme court in 2017 in the case of Montgomery v. Louisiana invalidated the existing JLWOP sentences imposed by the mandatory statute. Since then, the process of reviewing original sentencing for juveniles without parole is under review. The cases that concern juveniles must consider the unique circumstances for the individual defenders to determine the kind of sentencing. Montgomery v. Louisiana case’s decision highlighted that it is unconstitutional to sentence a minor for life sentence without the possibility if a parole . Such changes in the law were based on the fact that children do not possess the same thinking capacity as adults when it comes to determining the consequences they can face before committing a crime. The use of life without parole must only serve for the juveniles that whose offenses reflect “irreparable corruption”.
The figures went down since 2009 after the case of Jackson v. Hobbs and Miller v. Alabama as it was urged that it was wrong to sentence a juvenile on life without parole as it was considered as violation of the eighth amendment clause. The case led to a low number of sentenced juveniles without parole as there was a developmental difference between a juvenile and an adult offender (Dunn, 2016) .
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Considering the fact that most of the juvenile crimes in my state are not violent, the law makers enacted a law to raise the age and has its focus more on rehabilitating juveniles rather than putting them behind bars. The minor offenders get detained in a juvenile center rather than in adult jails. Most of the Juvenile crimes are non-violent and they include shoplifting, assault, underage drinking and vandalism.
Reference
Dunn, E. (2016). Montgomery v. Louisiana: An attempt to make juvenile life without parole a practical impossibility. Touro L. Rev. , 32 , 679.
