Terrance Graham

The Supreme Court on Monday put an abrupt end to a controversial penal practice that only the United States was engaging in: slapping life sentences without possibility of parole on minors convicted of non-murder crimes.

Prison forever? Supreme Court rules on sex offenders, juveniles who didn't kill victims. The Supreme Court took two cracks at one of the law's thorniest questions Monday: When can you lock up a prisoner and throw away the key? Not when it's a teenager who hasn't killed anyone, the justices said. But when it's a "sexually dangerous" inmate, maybe so, even if he has completed his federal prison sentence.

The US Supreme Court on Monday put an abrupt end to a controversial penal practice that only the United States was engaging in: slapping life sentences without possibility of parole on minors convicted of non-murder crimes.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday it was unconstitutional to sentence juveniles to life in prison without parole for crimes other than murder.

Supreme Court strikes down life in prison without parole for juveniles who didn't kill victims. The Supreme Court has ruled that teenagers may not be locked up for life without chance of parole if they haven't killed anyone.

The US Supreme Court ruled Monday that life sentences without possibility of parole for minors convicted of non-murder crimes are unconstitutional.

The US Supreme Court ruled Monday that life sentences without possibility of parole for minors convicted of non-murder crimes are unconstitutional.

Supreme Court debates whether life in prison without parole is cruel and unusual for juveniles. A seemingly divided Supreme Court wrestled Monday with whether teenagers can be locked away forever for their crimes. The question arose in two cases involving Florida men who are serving life prison terms with no chance of parole for crimes they committed as teenagers. Their lawyers argue that the sentences for people so young are cruel and unusual, in violation of the Constitution, because young people have greater capacity to change.

Supreme Court debates whether life in prison for juveniles is cruel and unusual. The Supreme Court appears sharply divided over whether sentencing a juvenile to life in prison with no chance of parole is cruel and unusual punishment, particularly if the crime is less serious than homicide.

The top US court Monday opened hearings into whether juveniles can be sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes which do not involve murder, a punishment handed down to 109 youngsters now behind bars.

A deeply divided US Supreme Court opened hearings Monday into whether juveniles can be sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes that do not involve murder.

In Monday case, Supreme Court weighs whether life in prison for juveniles is cruel and unusual. Joe Sullivan was sent away for life for raping an elderly woman and judged incorrigible though he was only 13 at the time of the attack.

The US Supreme Court will Monday wrestle with the merits of convicting juveniles who have not committed murder to life in prison without the possibility of parole -- a fate shared by 109 US prisoners, almost all of whom are non-white.

The US Supreme Court will Monday wrestle with the merits of convicting juveniles who have not committed murder to life in prison without the possibility of parole -- a fate shared by 109 US prisoners, all of whom are non-white.

Supreme Court to take up issue of life sentences for children involved in violent crimes. Though it may be decades, Joe Harris Sullivan is waiting to die in prison for a crime he committed at age 13, one of thousands of children who have been sentenced to life terms without parole in the United States.

The US Supreme Court said Monday that it would examine whether life imprisonment terms without parole handed down on two teenagers in Florida were constitutional.