Constitutional Connection

Very few parts of the constitution apply directly to the debate of whether juveniles being put in jail is appropriate. One of these few areas is the Eighth Amendment. The Eighth Amendment states that "excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted" (FindLaw.com). Determining if putting juveniles in jail for life without parole is classified as cruel and unusual punishment is the debate that is being argued at this time. Many don't know where to draw that line and don't know if that line should be dependent on the crime. The Supreme Court has not come to a final decision yet and has had much trouble solving this. In the case of Roper v Simmons it was decided that the death penalty is cruel and unusual but they don't know if life imprisonment is considered cruel and unusual. This became a problem during the case of Sullivan v Florida. Sullivan argued that the ruling of Ropers case applied in his own case but that was proven wrong by the simple fact that death penalty and life imprisonment are not equals, although some may argue different.
The Fourteenth Amendment, Section 1 states that" all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction therefore, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law" (FindLaw.com). If we look closely at the statement "nor shall any State deprive any person of life or liberty "(FindLaw.com), we can define both life and liberty. Life is protected in our Democratic Ideals. This means that we have a right to our life being considered inviolable unless in extreme circumstances. Some consider a life in prison at a young age violating this. You are stripping them of years of life experience. Our liberty is protected. One of the highlights of our right to liberty is personal freedom. Being put in jail for life can be considered as stripping them of their freedom. As you can see there is much interpretation that still needs to be determined. People have yet to come up with a solution to all of this.