Florida v Sullivan Group 3 Joe Sullivan History

Florida v. Sullivan Group 3

Joe Sullivan History * Mentally disabled living in a home where physical and sexual abuse were regularly subjected * Arrested 1989 at the age of thirteen * Charged of sexual battery in violation of Florida law and tried in adult court * After a one-day trial, Sullivan was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility for parole

State of Florida * Florida leads the nation by a wide margin in sending juvenile criminals to prison for life for crimes like burglary, battery, car-jacking and rape. * Nationally, 109 juveniles are serving life sentences without parole for non-homicide crimes, with Florida claiming 77 of those prisoners, according to a study by Florida State University researchers. * Florida is the only state to impose life without parole for juveniles convicted of burglary, battery or car-jacking.

8 th Amendment Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Facts The United States was the only country in the world with people condemned to die in prison for offenses committed when they were children.

UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT INVALIDATES DEATH PENALTY FOR MINORS In 2005, the Supreme Court held that the imposition of the death penalty on those who were minors at the time of the offense violates the 8 th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which prohibits the infliction of cruel and unusual punishment.

Three main grounds upon which the Court’s decision was based 1. The Court found that the standards of decency of society had substantially evolved and that there was now a national consensus in the United States against the death penalty for juveniles. 2. The Court relied on scientific evidence indicating that minors lack the same intellectual and emotional maturity as adults and thus should not be subject to the same punishment as adults. 3. The Court specifically relied upon the laws and practices of foreign courts and international authorities in support of its decision. This is extremely significant because the Court has rarely ever made such a pronouncement.

Facts In that 2005 case decided by a 5 -4 vote, Justice Anthony Kennedy's majority opinion talked about "the lesser culpability of the juvenile offender. "

Analysis Is life a life in prison without parole considered cruel and unusual punishment for a juvenile? Chief Justice Roberts made a strong and repeated effort to recruit a majority of the Supreme Court in favor of giving juveniles' more chance to use their age to challenge life without parole terms. While there was much sympathy evident among some-not all- of the Justices for treating juveniles differently, there does not appear to be a clear cut majority for taking away the life-without-parole option, even in cases where the victim of a youth’s crime did not die. The alternative would be a declaration that the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment required judges to take the offender’s youth into account in setting sentence.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER Does imposition of a life without parole sentence violate the pr 0 hibition on cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment? Does this case belong in front of the Supreme Court? In the past the justices have recognized that a state is permitted to make “a societal decision that when a person who has previously committed felony commits yet another should be subjected to the admittedly serious penalty of incarceration for life.