High Court to Look at Life Sentences for Juveniles

The Supreme Court announced yesterday that it will decide whether a 13-year-old convicted of rape must spend the rest of his life in prison, a new front in the court's examination of whether sentences suitable for adults may be applied to teenagers. The justices took two cases from Florida, one involving the 13-year-old and another involving a 17-year-old convicted in a home invasion, to decide whether the penalty of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole violates the Constitution's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishments. The cases, which will be argued separately, are Sullivan v. Florida and Graham v. Florida. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2009/05/04/AR2009050403607.html