Can a Juvenile Be Sentenced to Life Without Parole?

A juvenile can still be sentenced to life without parole, but not automatically. The Constitution treats children differently from adults at sentencing, and the Supreme Court has said so in two major cases:

• In Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012), the Court held that a mandatory sentence of life without parole for someone under 18 at the time of the crime violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
• In Montgomery v. Louisiana, 577 U.S. 190 (2016), the Court made Miller retroactive, so it applies to people sentenced before 2012. A state can fix these sentences by resentencing or by allowing parole consideration.

Update (October 2026): In Jones v. Mississippi (2021), the Supreme Court held that a judge does not have to find a juvenile "permanently incorrigible" (beyond hope of change) before imposing life without parole. A judge only has to have the power to consider the person's youth. Jones did not overrule Miller or Montgomery.

Why the Court ruled this way

The key word is mandatory. A mandatory life sentence means the judge has no choice and cannot consider the person's age or background.

Sentencing for Juveniles

The Court relied in part on brain and behavior research. Young people are not as emotionally mature as adults. They are more impulsive, more easily pressured, and less able to think through consequences, and their self-control is less developed. The Court noted that people 17 and younger are still forming their personalities, and that juveniles are more likely than adults to change in response to rehabilitation.

So the Court reasoned that juveniles are less blameworthy than adults, and their sentences must take that into account. They are, in fact, constitutionally different from adults. Taking away the judge's power to consider youth is what makes a mandatory life sentence unconstitutional.

The Court did not ban life sentences for juveniles in all cases. If a judge considers the person's youth and still decides life is the right sentence, that sentence can be constitutional.

What happened after Miller and Montgomery

Many people serving life for crimes committed as teenagers asked courts to look at their sentences again. In Michigan alone, about 360 people convicted as minors were serving life without parole when this article was first written. Depending on the state, courts or parole boards now review these cases.

Some cases show how hard these decisions can be:

• Carlos Flores was 17 in 1981 when he and three others tried to rob a bar in Queens, New York. An off-duty police officer was shot and killed. Flores was not the shooter, but he got 21 years to life. When this article was first written, he was 54, had served 37 years, and had been denied parole by the New York State Parole Board for 16 years.
• Edward Sanders of Michigan was convicted of first-degree murder in 1975. He was a passenger in the car during a drive-by shooting. He was paroled at age 60, after 42 and a half years in prison, and was learning how to rejoin society.

The impact on victims' families

There is much to be said for giving a second chance to people sentenced as juveniles after decades in prison. But these cases also reopen old wounds for victims' families, who ask: where is the second chance for my family member who was killed?

Jody Robinson, president of the National Organization of Victims of Juvenile Murderers, lost her brother in May 1990, when he was stabbed to death. A 16-year-old girl and a 19-year-old man were both sentenced to life without parole for the crime.

"For those individuals life meant nothing," Robinson said. "The offender wants a second chance. I ask where's my second chance to dance at my brother's wedding? Or to see his children? ... nobody is moving mountains trying to get me a second chance?"

The bottom line

Miller and Montgomery reflect what we know about how young people think and change. Still, these cases are not simple. A second chance is often a worthy goal for someone who has been rehabilitated. But the crime cannot be undone, and the victims it left behind must not be forgotten.

In federal court, a person's age at the time of the offense is something the judge can weigh when choosing a sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). School records, evidence of the person's home life, and proof of growth in prison can all help show the judge who that person is today.

Facing a federal sentence? Book a consultation to talk it through with Brandon Sample.