Another round of early (mostly critical) commentary on Jones
I shared in this post some of my first thoughts about the Supreme Court’s new Eighth Amendment juvenile LWOP decision in Jones v. Mississippi, No. 18-1259 (S. Ct. April 22, 2021) (available here), and then I rounded up a few days later in this post some notable initial critical commentary. Just over a week later, I have seen a number of additional notable takes on the ruling, and here is another abridged round up:
From Andrew Cohen, “Supreme Court: Let’s Make It Easier for Judges to Send Teenagers to Die in Prison“
From Brandon Garrett, “Justices’ Life Sentence Ruling Is A Step Back For Youth Rights“
From Jack Karp, “Jones Marks Shift In High Court’s Juvenile Justice Rulings“
From Marc Levin, “Supreme Court Puts Onus on Lawmakers to Provide Second Chances for Kids“
From Christine Sarteschi and Daniel Pollack, “Life Without Parole for Minors: The Supreme Court and the Statistics“
From Kent Scheidegger, “Dumping a Dishonest Precedent Less Than Honestly — Part I“
From Beth Schwartzapfel, “Supreme Court Conservatives Just Made It Easier to Sentence Kids to Life in Prison“
Some prior recent related posts:
- SCOTUS affirms juve LWOP sentence, 6-3, in Jones v Mississippi
- A few first thoughts on Jones and juve LWOP
- Rounding up some early (mostly critical) commentary on Jones
- Evan Miller, of Miller v. Alabama, sentenced again to LWOP for murder committed when he was only 14
UPDATE: I just noticed this notable observation from Kent Scheidegger over at Crime & Consequences concerning action by the Justices in related cases via the May 3 order list:
The U.S. Supreme Court released its regular Monday orders list today. Not surprisingly, there were several wake-of-Jones orders in cases that had been on hold for that decision. Oklahoma v. Johnson, No. 19-250, and United States v. Briones, No. 19-720, were sent back for reconsideration. These were cases where the lower court decided in an under-18 murderer’s favor based on a broad interpretation of Montgomery v. Louisiana. Cases where the lower court ruled against the defendant based on a narrow interpretation of Montgomery were simply denied, including Newton v. Indiana, No. 17-1511, and Garcia v. North Dakota, No. 19-399.