Juveniles Deserve Life Sentences Analysis

After recent discussions of whether or not juveniles should be automatically sentenced to life in prison when they commit murder, the majority of the Supreme Court ruled that juveniles who have committed murder could not be sentenced to life without parole. On the one hand, the majority of the court claims it violates their 8th amendment. On the other hand, the other 4 justices on the court claim that not sending these juveniles to life in prison will not reflect the will of American society. Due to the fact that many juveniles commit the crimes because their environment unconsciously affected them mentally, I agree with the majority of the Supreme Court that sending juveniles to life in prison, no matter the consequence, is a cruel and unusual punishment. In “Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life Sentences,” New York Times journalist Gail Garinger refers to how brain imaging studies have exposed the fact that “regions of the adolescent brain responsible for controlling thoughts, actions, and emotions are not fully developed.” For example, 14 year old Greg Ousley who killed his parents did not have the ability to keep his thoughts in order. With Ousley not having the home life he wanted, the people he surrounded himself with got into his head. After a nice night he spent with his parents, his happy thoughts were invaded by the thoughts of his friends. He thought that they would …show more content…
Their environment caused problems and shaped them. For example, in “Kids are Kids— Until They Commit Crimes,” Marjie Lundstrom asserts how a kids environment or what/who they surround themselves with affects them because Lionel Tate a 12 year old was watching a lot of wrestling shows and this led him to believe if he did it nothing would happen. Lundstrom also points out how a 15 year old Yuba City youth mimicked a girl who robbed a bank on