Life without parole is cruel punishment
In the 2012 case Miller v. Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that sentencing juveniles to imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole was cruel and unusual punishment and prohibited by the Constitution.
Now, juveniles convicted of second-degree murder can only be sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. Juveniles convicted of first-degree murder may be sentenced to life with the possibility of parole or life without the possibility of parole. How ironic. This is exactly what our sentencing laws have specified for decades. However, prosecutors and judges chose not to obey these laws. They insisted on imposing mandatory life-without-parole sentences on everyone convicted of first or even second-degree murder, knowing our laws did not authorize such sentences.
Starting in 1974, our statutory laws required juveniles and adults convicted of second-degree murder to be sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. These laws also specified juveniles and adults convicted of the greater offense of first-degree murder may be sentenced to life with parole or life without parole. These laws did not authorize mandatory life-without-parole sentences. Period. This is in harmony with the Constitution and the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2012, and now with the January Supreme Court decision in Montgomery v. Louisiana, which means more than 500 people sentenced as juveniles in Pennsylvania could have their sentences re-examined, or they could be paroled.
Criminal acts must be punished, but punishment must not be cruel, unusual or illegal. Punishment must be legal and fair to balance our scales of justice. Virtually every Pennsylvania lifer is serving a blatantly illegal sentence.
Former Gov. Tom Corbett, also a former prosecutor, said we cannot pick and choose what laws we will or will not obey. But this is exactly what he, other prosecutors and judges in Pennsylvania began doing in 1974. They chose to disobey our mandatory sentencing laws. How can there be justice for all when the government refuses to obey its own laws? When will Pennsylvania reach the level of humanity necessary to redress such grievous injustices?
Bert Hudson
Waynesburg
Hudson is an inmate at SCI-Greene.