[responsivevoice_button]

In 2012 the Supreme Court struck down mandatory sentences of life imprisonment without parole for children under 18. In response, Missouri converted life-without-parole sentences into life-with-parole. The Missouri Board of Probation then denied parole for almost everyone who qualified, circumventing the Supreme Court’s decision.

Recently, the Eighth Circuit held Missouri’s parole process unconstitutional. It found that the parole board did not allow people to review their own parole files, making it impossible to identify factual errors. It also found that the board did not allow the person being considered for parole to speak for themselves. Instead it allows a “delegate” to represent them, who is only allowed to talk about post-release plans, but is not permitted to provide evidence of abuse or trauma that may have led to the underlying crime. Finally, it was found that the parole boards are using a “barebones, boilerplate form” to announce a denial, and it doesn’t indicate how the they reached a decision.

The court further found that the parole boards were focusing solely on the underlying crime, instead of constitutionally required considerations like efforts toward rehabilitation and subsequent growth from increased maturity. The Eighth Circuit found that that Missouri is in direct violation of the “foundation principle” that “children are constitutionally different from adults.”

We would like to thank Equal Justice Initiative for the content. Click HERE to view the original comprehensive article.