Ruling but no resolution on which teen killers merit parole
Posted Dec 31, 2017 12:02:20 AM.
Last Updated Dec 31, 2017 12:40:13 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Nearly two years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prison inmates who killed as teenagers are capable of change and may deserve eventual freedom, the question remains unresolved: Which ones should get a second chance?
Now the ruling — which came in the case of a 71-year-old Louisiana inmate still awaiting a parole hearing — is being tested again in that same state. Prosecutors there have moved to keep about 1 in 3 former juvenile offenders locked up for the rest of their lives.
The action by Louisiana prosecutors echoes the approach in Michigan, where district attorneys are seeking to keep two-thirds of 363 juvenile life inmates behind bars for good. That state’s cases have been on hold awaiting a ruling on whether judges or juries should decide them.
This story is part of an Associated Press series examining the aftermath of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling opening the door for the possible release of former teen offenders sentenced to life without parole.
