The Supreme Court ruled today 5-4 that a life sentence for a juvenile who has not participated in a murder is not allowed. It is almost shocking to me that this was ever allowed. Children are vulnerable to making poor choices and to lock up a child and throw away the key forever is quite a punishment. It is hard to speak in generalities and not know specifics but I do believe that there must be better options such as finding what caused the bad choice and trying to rehabiliate and help kids make better choices. That might sound too generous for some crimes and maybe it is but life without parole is a rather enourmous punishment by any standards. 37 states a have laws that allow such a harsh punishment in addition to Washington D.C and the Federal Governement. Today the Supreme Court found such a punishment to be consider cruel and unnusual and against the 8th Amendmend of the Constitution. Check out the NY Times article.