The opinion just came down in Graham v. Florida. The U.S. Supreme Court holds that it is unconstitutional to sentence a person to life imprisonment for a nonhomicide crime committed before he was 18 years old.
In several places, the Court makes reference to neuroscience research presented in amici briefs. You may remember that in Roper v. Simmons, the Supreme Court held that it was unconstitutional to sentence a person to death for a crime committed before he turned 18. In that case, however, it was not clear that the Court considered neuroscience research presented in amici. The shift is interesting, even if it is ambiguous.
You can find the new opinion here.
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