Known Unknowns: Legislating for a Juvenile’s Reformative Uncertainty

I. Introduction II. Juvenile Sentencing: The Eighth Amendment in Focus ... A. Indeterminacy as an Evolving Standard in Juvenile Sentencing ... B. Reconciling Constitutional Norms and State Policy … C. Detangling Proportionality and Term-of-Years Sentences ... D. State Courts Interpret the Constitutional Fault Lines III. States Delineate the Scope and Implement Policy ... A. The Science Advantage: Recognizing Youth Deficiencies & Its Consequences ... B. Age Matters: Commonsense Supplemented with Expert Opinion IV. The Undulating Public Response to Juvenile Crime ... A. The Road to Finding National Consensus ... B. The Gatekeepers to Criminal Court V. Avoiding Social Ignorance ... A. The Forgotten Political Carve-Out ... B. Translating a Constitutional Norm into State Level Policy VI. Conclusion