Symposium: Bombshell or Babystep - The Ramifications of Miller v. Alabama for Sentencing Law and Juvenile Crime Policy: Symposium Foreword

Part II of this Foreword briefly addresses one open constitutional question in the wake of Miller: in light of its rationale, is juvenile LWOP – whether mandatory or the result of an individualized sentencing process – constitutionally permissible? I argue that the Miller opinion itself is incoherent insofar as it permits juvenile LWOP as a constitutionally viable sentence. Part III provides a short synopsis of the controversy among Justices regarding the proper methodology for Eighth Amendment proportionality analyses. Then, with particular attention to the authors’ different takes on Miller’s implications for methodology, Part III provides a guide to the symposium contributions focusing on the Eighth Amendment.

Parts IV and V will then briefly summarize our symposium contributions focusing on sentencing policy more generally and on Missouri’s juvenile justice system.