Major Supreme Court Ruling: Kids Who Didn't Kill Anyone Should Not Have to Die in Prison

by Liliana Segura

Children who commit crimes other than murder can no longer face a sentence of life without parole, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday in a highly anticipated decision that civil rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson calls “an incredibly important win for kids who’ve been condemned to die in prison.”

Stevenson represents Joe Sullivan, who was sentenced to life without parole (LWOP) when he was just 14 years old. Sullivan, one of 77 prisoners in Florida serving LWOP for non-homicide crimes committed before the age of 18, was the defendant in one of two related cases before the court. His case, Sullivan v. Florida, was “dismissed as improvidently granted” given the ruling in the other case, Graham v. Florida, which bluntly held that “the Constitution prohibits the imposition of a life without parole sentence on a juvenile offender who did not commit homicide.”

Read more at AlterNet…