People v. Brown CA2/7

DISCUSSION

A. LWOP for Juveniles Should Be Rare

The last decade has seen a significant change in the law of appropriate sentencing for juveniles who commit serious crimes. Beginning with Roper v. Simmons (2005) 543 U.S. 551, 578, which held that no person may be executed for a crime committed while a juvenile, the United States Supreme Court has recognized the science supporting the conclusion that juveniles are different from adults in their development, ability to control their actions, and understanding of the consequences of those actions. (See Graham v. Florida (2010) 560 U.S. 48, 74 [no LWOP for juveniles committing non-homicide offenses].) In Miller v. Alabama, supra, 132 S.Ct. 2455 the Supreme Court barred automatic LWOP for homicide offenses as a violation of the Eighth Amendment prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment; children, it found, are “constitutionally different from adults for purposes of sentencing” for several reasons based “not only on common sense--on what ‘any parent knows--but on science and social science as well.” (Id. at p. 2464.) “First, children have a “lack of maturity and an underdeveloped sense of responsibility,” leading to recklessness,…