Washington state’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that sentencing youth offenders to life in prison without parole is unconstitutional, joining 20 states and Washington D.C. who’ve already outlawed the practice.
The justices ruled 5-4 that trial courts may not impose a minimum term of life, as that would mean a life without parole sentence, for people convicted of committing a crime when they were younger than 18 years old. The sentencing “constitutes cruel punishment,” and doesn’t achieve the legal goals of retribution or deterrence because children are less culpable than adults, it said. Children convicted of crimes, including the highest degree of murder, are also entitled in Washington to special protections from sentencing courts when possible, the court said.
The ruling comes on the heels of a unanimous decision by the state’s justices earlier this week that struck down the death penalty, declaring its current application to be in violation of Washington’s constitution. It addresses an appeal filed by 39-year-old Brian Bassett, who was convicted of three counts of aggravated first-degree murder for fatally shooting his parents and drowning his 5-year-old brother in a bathtub in 1996, when he was 16.
[For more on this story by Paige Cornwell and Hannah Rodriguez, go to https://www.seattletimes.com/s...th-unconstitutional/]
For another story on this topic, see SENTENCING MINORS TO LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE IS DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL IN WASHINGTON STATE.
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