The Supreme Court recently released opinions on two issues related to the Law and Neuroscience Project.
Juveniles and Life with Possibility of Parole
In Graham v. Florida, the Court stated that the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment is violated by a life-without-parole sentence for a juvenile whose crime did not involve murder. The opinion does allow very long sentences and only prohibits a decision by the court at the outset that a juvenile will never be fit to rejoin society. All that is required is that a juvenile, when sentenced, must have "some realistic opportunity to obtain release" before the individual's life ends. What the offender must show to obtain release, according to the opinion, is "demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation."
The opinion in Graham v. Florida is available here:
http://www.supremecourt.gov/
Sexually Violent Predators and Indefinite Detention
In United States v. Comstock the Court upheld a law passed by Congress to order the civil commitment of a mentally ill federal prisoner who is a sex offender with the commitment to continue beyond the date the
inmate otherwise would be released under a criminal sentence.
Elena Kagan argued, on behalf of the United States, that the Federal government has the power to indefinitely detain sexually violent prisoners following a criminal sentence. She told the court, "[the Federal government] knows that those persons, released, will commit serious sexual offenses."
Justice Sotomayor asked, at oral argument, "what constrains the government from invoking a dangerousness merely because someone has a long history. We have many criminal defendants with long histories of violent behavior. Many of them continue that violent behavior in prison and some of them at the end of their term are let out, because their term has been completed."
Kagan answered that sexually violent predators are not just dangerous but also mentally ill. She compared them to prisoners who have "a very contagious form of drug-resistant tuberculosis that had -- had become prevalent in the prison system, and States were not able to deal with that, with quarantining these people upon their release date."
Of interest in oral argument was the fact that the Federal government has 15,000 prisoners who have committed a sexually violent crime. Of those, the government has only certified 102 as "mentally ill" and
therefore subject to indefinite detention.
The opinion in United States v. Comstock is here:
http://www.supremecourt.gov/
Juveniles and Life with Possibility of Parole
In Graham v. Florida, the Court stated that the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment is violated by a life-without-parole sentence for a juvenile whose crime did not involve murder. The opinion does allow very long sentences and only prohibits a decision by the court at the outset that a juvenile will never be fit to rejoin society. All that is required is that a juvenile, when sentenced, must have "some realistic opportunity to obtain release" before the individual's life ends. What the offender must show to obtain release, according to the opinion, is "demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation."
The opinion in Graham v. Florida is available here:
http://www.supremecourt.gov/
Sexually Violent Predators and Indefinite Detention
In United States v. Comstock the Court upheld a law passed by Congress to order the civil commitment of a mentally ill federal prisoner who is a sex offender with the commitment to continue beyond the date the
inmate otherwise would be released under a criminal sentence.
Elena Kagan argued, on behalf of the United States, that the Federal government has the power to indefinitely detain sexually violent prisoners following a criminal sentence. She told the court, "[the Federal government] knows that those persons, released, will commit serious sexual offenses."
Justice Sotomayor asked, at oral argument, "what constrains the government from invoking a dangerousness merely because someone has a long history. We have many criminal defendants with long histories of violent behavior. Many of them continue that violent behavior in prison and some of them at the end of their term are let out, because their term has been completed."
Kagan answered that sexually violent predators are not just dangerous but also mentally ill. She compared them to prisoners who have "a very contagious form of drug-resistant tuberculosis that had -- had become prevalent in the prison system, and States were not able to deal with that, with quarantining these people upon their release date."
Of interest in oral argument was the fact that the Federal government has 15,000 prisoners who have committed a sexually violent crime. Of those, the government has only certified 102 as "mentally ill" and
therefore subject to indefinite detention.
The opinion in United States v. Comstock is here:
http://www.supremecourt.gov/