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Article: At Supreme Court, no accord over life sentences for juveniles.(USA)
- Article from:
- The Christian Science Monitor
- Article date:
- November 9, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 The Christian Science Publishing Society. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Warren Richey Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Washington -- A sharply divided US Supreme Court on Monday debated whether to invalidate state laws that permit juveniles to be sentenced to life in prison without parole for nonhomicide crimes.
It is a potential watershed decision. But after two hours of arguments in two different cases, it was unclear whether a majority of the high court's nine justices were in agreement on the issue.
The two cases, Graham v. Florida and Sullivan v. Florida, ask the justices to consider whether sentencing a juvenile to spend the rest of his or her life in prison is cruel and unusual punishment ...