Sbeglia Colleen, Simmons Cortney, Icenogle Grace, Levick Marsha, Peniche Monica, Beardslee Jordan, Cauffman Elizabeth
University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, USA.
Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA.
J Res Adolesc. 2025 Mar;35(1):e12989. doi: 10.1111/jora.12989. Epub 2024 Jun 6.
In Miller v. Alabama (2012), the Supreme Court abolished mandatory juvenile life without parole (JLWOP) sentences and subsequently decided that the ruling applied retroactively (Montgomery v. Louisiana, 2016), effectively rendering thousands of inmates eligible for resentencing and potential release from prison. In its decisions, the Court cited developmental science, noting that youth, by virtue of their transient immaturity, are less culpable and more amenable to rehabilitation relative to their adult counterparts. Specifically, the Court notes adolescents' propensity for impulsive action, sensitivity to social influence, and difficulty understanding long-term consequences. Even so, these rulings raised concerns regarding the consequences of releasing prisoners who had committed heinous crimes as juveniles. Several years after the Court's decision, preliminary data are now available to shed light on rates of recidivism among those released. The current paper comprises three goals. First, we discuss the science of adolescent development and how it intersects with legal practice, contextualizing the Court's decision. Second, we present recidivism data from a sample of individuals formerly sentenced to JLWOP in Pennsylvania who were resentenced and released under Miller and Montgomery (N = 287). Results indicate that 15 individuals received new criminal charges up to 7 years postrelease (5.2%), the majority of which were nonviolent offenses. This low rate of recidivism is consistent with the developmental science documenting compromised decision-making during the adolescent years, followed by desistance from criminal behavior in adulthood. Lastly, we discuss the importance of interdisciplinary collaborations between researchers and legal practitioners, as well as critical future avenues of research in this area.
在米勒诉阿拉巴马州案（2012年）中，最高法院废除了对青少年的强制性终身不得假释（JLWOP）判决，随后裁定该裁决具有追溯力（蒙哥马利诉路易斯安那州案，2016年），这实际上使数千名囚犯有资格获得重新量刑并有可能从监狱获释。在其裁决中，最高法院援引了发展科学，指出由于青少年暂时的不成熟，相对于成年人，他们的罪责较轻，更易于改造。具体而言，最高法院指出青少年有冲动行事的倾向、对社会影响敏感以及难以理解长期后果。即便如此，这些裁决引发了人们对释放那些曾在青少年时期犯下令人发指罪行的囚犯所产生后果的担忧。在最高法院做出裁决数年之后，现在有初步数据可用于揭示获释者的再犯率。本论文包含三个目标。首先，我们讨论青少年发展科学及其与法律实践的交叉点，将最高法院的裁决置于具体情境中。其次，我们展示了宾夕法尼亚州一个曾被判处JLWOP刑罚、后根据米勒案和蒙哥马利案重新量刑并获释的个体样本的再犯数据（N = 287）。结果表明，15人在获释后长达7年的时间里受到了新的刑事指控（5.2%），其中大多数是非暴力犯罪。这种低再犯率与发展科学相一致，该科学记录了青少年时期决策能力受损，随后在成年期停止犯罪行为。最后，我们讨论研究人员与法律从业者之间跨学科合作的重要性，以及该领域未来关键的研究方向。
