No-Parole Terms for Young Adult Killers Challenged by Science and Changing Times

In light of recent Supreme Court rulings and state laws that have limited or banned the use of life sentences without the possibility of parole for people who commit crimes as juveniles because of the potential for change, as well as research showing that the brain continues to develop after 18, states are beginning to examine whether to extend such protections to young adults who say they too deserve a second chance, reports the Associated Press. More than two dozen states — including Massachusetts — and the District of Columbia have already disallowed putting juveniles behind bars for life with no chance at parole. Research indicating the brains of adolescents are still developing has convinced courts and lawmakers that punishing teens with the same severity as adults is cruel and unusual because it fails to account for the differences of youth or the potential for rehabilitation.

Defense attorneys say the same rationale should apply to young adults. One psychological study of people from nearly a dozen countries shows that young adults have higher risk-taking tendencies and are more influenced by their peers than older adults. Washington state’s high court earlier this year abolished automatic life without parole sentences given to people for murders committed as 18- to 20-year-olds. A new Washington, D.C., law allows those under the age of 25 at the time of their crime to apply for a new sentence after 15 years. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court last year ordered a lower court to gather more information about brain development so it could decide whether to extend the ban on life without parole sentences to young adults. More than 200 people are serving life without parole sentences in Massachusetts prisons for killings committed as 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds, according to data obtained by the Committee for Public Counsel Services, the state’s public defender agency.