Fair Sentencing for Youth

 

   

CA Court Overturns LWOP for 14 Year Old

A state appellate court has voided a life without parole sentence for a 14-year-old from Orange County who was convicted of a kidnapping in which no one was injured.  The 4th District Court of Appeal ruled that the sentence life without parole for such a youthful offender constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, finding that the sentence violated both the Eighth Amendmentto the U.S. Constitution and Article I of the California Constitution.  “We … conclude his severe sentence is so freakishly rare as to constitute arbitrary and capricious punishment violating the Eighth Amendment,” Justice Richard Aronson  wrote. Antonio still may never get out of prison, however, because his crime resulted in several consecutive life sentences.