Life In Jail Without Parole

Does LWOP for juveniles violate the 8th amendment." Use lecture, our conversation, and the articles for support.

I do not think that you can classify it one way or the other; it is in simplest of terms circumstantial. In a generalization you can not dictate whether or not someone, actual it is not just someone it is a juvenile, should be put in jail for life with out the opportunity to have parole. A jury and judge dictate what the verdict will be, but a child still has a possibility of changing. It as Max and I discussed, certain circumstances dictate different outcomes. In my opinion we should not generalize the cases that involve juveniles who are sentenced without parole, but look at each case individually. You can not make sure an important decision on a generalization, you have to look at what lead up to the crime, the factors, the background, who was involved, every single variable must be covered. Another topic to take into consideration is that juveniles are being charged as if adults. How is that OK if the courts deem we are mature enough to be charged as such yet not mature enough to enjoy being able to vote, drink, and drive? It does not seem write that a juvenile should be charged as with a verdict that is the same as an adults when they are not yet even able to by that same law be able to enjoy the fruits of being an adult.

Some students voiced within our discussion that if you regardless if you are a juvenile murder someone the you should automatically deserve life in prison with out the option of parole, but what if it was to get away from being killed yourself or to save a family member. There are always to many things to take into consideration when it come to a verdict. So in response to the question I do think that in certain cases LWOP violates the 8th amendment.