Pennsylvania Supreme Court Fails to Follow U.S. Supreme Court Opinion Finding Mandatory Life Without Parole Sentences for Juveniles Unconstitutional

We are deeply disappointed that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has decided not to follow the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court in Miller v. Alabama, that juveniles convicted of homicide can no longer receive mandatory sentences of life without parole. The decision also ignores the trend in both state and federal courts to find Miller retroactive. (Read the PA Supreme Court's opinion in Commonwealth v. Cunningham here.)

It is troubling that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court feels it is appropriate that a juvenile whose appeal was exhausted in 2012 should not be resentenced, but a juvenile whose appeal was pending in 2012 must be resentenced. The vagaries of timing should not determine if a juvenile should spend the rest of his or her life in prison with no possibility of parole. 

As Chief Justice Castille notes in his concurrence, to treat these juveniles differently creates an "inequitable situation." It might be more accurately characterized as an appallingly unjust situation. Justice demands that all juveniles serving mandatory life sentences be treated the same. This decision will affect the lives of nearly 500 such inmates in Pennsylvania. 

In his dissent, Justice Baer wrote, "I am guided by the United States Supreme Court's decision reversing the judgment of the collateral appeal defendant in Miller and the High Court's overarching recognition in its development of this area of law that 'children are constitutionally different.'" 

"The Eighth Amendment is a measure of where we are along our nation's moral continuum," said Marsha Levick, Deputy Director and Chief Counsel at Juvenile Law Center. "Once the United States Supreme Court sets down a marker, it is morally unconscionable to leave any juvenile on the other side of that marker. Chief Justice Castille seems to recognize this, but fails to recognize that the Eighth Amendment decisions require retroactive application if we are to maintain moral consistency in our justice system."

"We anticipate asking the United States Supreme Court to review this matter so that they can vindicate their decision in Miller that children are different and cannot be automatically sentenced to life without parole," said Bradley Bridge of the Defender Association in Philadelphia. 

Juvenile Law Center and the Defender Association have been litigating the constitutionality of sentencing juveniles to life imprisonment without parole since 2005.