September 2009:Introduction
This is the first nationwide, empirical study focused exclusively on juvenile offenders who received life without parole sentences (JLWOP) for non-homicides.2 The 2009 update of “The Rest of Their Lives: Life Without Parole for Child Offenders in the United States,” a Human Rights Watch/ Amnesty International Report, found that there are 2,574 inmates in the United States, who at the time of their criminal offense were juveniles and who received a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.3 These teenagers will spend their natural life in prison and will only be “released” at time of death.4 In contrast to the 2,574 JLWOP inmates in the U.S., no other country in the world, in practice, imprisons juvenile offenders to life without parole sentences.5
This study’s exclusive focus is on a subgroup of this JLWOP population: those who have committed non-homicide offenses. This study sheds light on the often hidden population of youths who are sentenced to life without parole for non-homicides. See Appendix I for a profile of one of these youths. The objective of this study is to provide the judiciary, policy makers, and the public the latest data on juvenile life without parole sentences for non-homicides.
The U.S. Supreme Court has accepted certiorari in two cases - Terrance Graham v. State of Florida6 and Joe Sullivan v. State of Florida.7 In the Graham case, the juvenile life without parole offense was armed burglary, and in the Sullivan case, the juvenile life without parole offense was sexual battery. Graham was 16 at time of offense and Sullivan was 13. Both cases are non-homicides (no murder was involved) and both Graham and Sullivan were convicted and sentenced to life without parole sentences based on Florida criminal law.
These two cases raise the identical legal issue: whether a juvenile life without parole sentence for a non-homicide offense violates the Eighth Amendment prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. The question before the Court addresses the non-homicide subgroup, which is the subject matter of this study.
I. Summary of Juvenile Life without Parole Non-Homicide Facts:
• 109 is the estimated total number of juveniles who received life without parole for nonhomicides in the 50 states.8 See Table A.
• 77 is the total number of juveniles with life without parole sentences for non-homicides in Florida. See Table A.
• 39 states have zero juveniles serving life without parole sentences for non-homicides. See Table A.
• Only 8 of the states with confirmed data have any juvenile offenders sentenced to life without parole for non-homicide offenses. See Table A.
• Florida sentences juvenile offenders to life without parole for non-homicide offenses at 19 times the rate expected based on analysis of other comparable states.
• Florida is the only state, with confirmed data, in the nation that has sentenced juveniles to life without parole for burglary, battery, or carjacking. See Chart C.
• 84% of the total non-homicide juvenile life without parole population in Florida is Black. See Chart D.
• 13 years old is the earliest age at offense for youths who have received life without parole sentences in Florida. See Chart E.
• There are 3 states for which the researchers have no reliable data on juvenile offenders sentenced to life without parole for non-homicides: Nevada, Utah, and Virginia.9
II. Summary of Conclusion
Florida’s practice of sentencing juvenile offenders to life without parole for nonhomicide cases is unique among American states. The data presented here provide overwhelming evidence that Florida is out of step with the nation: it stands alone in its willingness to condemn young people for non-homicide offenses to life in prison without a chance of a reassessment of their lives at some future time.
III. Questions
This study asks the following questions:
1) How many non-homicide juvenile life without parole inmates are there presently in
the 50 states?
2) What is the distribution nationally of non-homicide juvenile life without parole
inmates?
3) What is the distribution nationally of types of non-homicide offenses for which
juveniles are sentenced to life without parole?
4) What is the age and race profile of Florida inmates with JLWOP sentences for nonhomicides?
5) How does Florida compare with all states and with just other JLWOP states on number
and type of juvenile life without parole sentences for non-homicides?
6) Is Florida’s practice of sentencing juveniles to life without parole sentences unusual in the context of all states and in the context of JLWOP states?
For the remainder of this report: by Paolo G. Annino, J.D., Ph.D. Director of Public Interest Law Center, Florida State
University College of Law, Tallahassee, Florida
David W. Rasmussen, Ph.D. Dean of the College of Social Sciences, Professor of
Economics, holder of the James H. Gapinski Professorship, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida
Chelsea Boehme Rice, J.D. Graduate Fellow, Public Interest Law Center, Florida State University College of Law, Tallahassee, Florida
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