Life Without Parole at Issue

By Rhonda Cook, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 18, 2012

The U.S. Supreme Court has already said — twice — that teenage criminals are not the same as their adult counterparts.

Now the high court is expected to rule, perhaps today, whether it is constitutional to sentence teenage killers to life without parole, considering that teenagers’ brains are not yet fully developed.

Life without parole is a punishment Georgia and 38 other states have imposed on 2,700 juvenile killers, and the court ruling could impact the punishment of Jonathan Bun, who was 17 when he murdered Clayton County sheriff’s Deputy Rick Daly last July.

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