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U.S. Supreme Court · 2016
577 U.S. 190 (2016)
Held that Miller v. Alabama announced a substantive rule of constitutional law that applies retroactively on state collateral review. The Court characterized Miller as rendering life without parole unconstitutional for "a class of defendants because of their status" -- juvenile offenders "whose crimes reflect the transient immaturity of youth" -- as opposed to "the rare juvenile offender whose crime reflects irreparable corruption."
Some later courts have distinguished or questioned it — read before relying.
Treatment last confirmed July 18, 2026. Case-wide subsequent treatment; human-set. Not specific to any one passage.
Adolescents have a diminished capacity for self-regulation and impulse control relative to adults; the neural systems supporting cognitive control and behavioral inhibition mature gradually across adolescence and do not reach adult levels until the late teens to early twenties.
Structured, developmentally-appropriate interventions can, on average, reduce reoffending among juveniles; as a group, adolescents are responsive to rehabilitation — though effects are modest and depend strongly on the type of program, the targeting of higher-risk youth, and the quality of implementation.