Summaries of Petitioner and Amicus Briefs
Summaries of Petitioner and Amicus Briefs “Having spent decades overseeing the cases of juvenile offenders and thus having witnessed first-hand their remarkable resilience, amici strongly believe that the criminal justice system cannot predict what kind of person a fifteen- year-old juvenile offender will be when he is 35, or 55, or 75. Rather, there should be some meaningful opportunity for the system to reassess whether incarceration remains necessary for these offenders after they have had the opportunity to grow, mature, and change.” - Brief of Former Juvenile Court Judges In Support of Petitioners Jackson and Miller “To deprive adolescents, who are neurologically less capable than adults of acting rationally and understanding consequences, who are substantially affected by the influence of peers and their surroundings, and who are virtually certain to mature and evolve with support and proper environmental influence, of ‘any opportunity to achieve maturity of judgment and self-recognition of human worth and potential’ is contrary to the standards of decency that define a just society.” - Brief of Mental Health Experts In Support of Petitioners Jackson and Miller PPeettiittiioonneerrss’’ BBrriieeffss Jackson v. Hobbs Miller v. Alabama SSuummmmaarriieess Kuntrell Jackson v. Ray Hobbs, Director Arkansas Department of Correction Summary of Brief for Petitioner Summary Graham v. Florida, 130 S. Ct. 2011 (2010), and Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005), identified numerous features of adolescence that make teen offenders less culpable than adults: Biologically and psychologically, teens are given to impulsive, heedless, sensation-seeking behavior and excessive peer pressure. Through inexperience and neurological underdevelopment, they lack mature behavioral controls.
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