78 A.L.R. Fed. 2d 1The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Const. Amend. VIII, prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, guaranteeing individuals the right not to be subjected to excessive sanctions. In Miller v. Alabama, 132 S. Ct. 2455, 183 L. Ed. 2d 407, 78 A.L.R. Fed. 2d 547 (2012), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Punishment Clause bars a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for minors who are under the age of 18 when their crimes are committed, as applied to two offenders who were 14 years old when convicted of murder. The Court further stated that the Punishment Clause requires the sentencer to consider the characteristics of minors as offenders and how minors are different in recognition that minors are less deserving of the most severe punishments because they have diminished culpability and greater prospects for reform. The Court added that the distinctive attributes of youth diminish the penological justifications for imposing the harshest sentences on juvenile offenders, even when they commit terrible crimes, given that minors' lack of maturity and a developed sense of responsibility lead to recklessness, impulsivity, and heedless risk-taking, minors are more vulnerable to negative influences and outside pressures, and the character of minors is not as well formed as the character of an adult.
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