While a 14- or 17-year-old knows the difference between right and wrong, they don't have the same abilities to control their behaviors and assess risks the way adults do.
Steven Drizin
Juries often don't buy the idea that someone can't distinguish right from wrong.
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In a majority of cases, these people could become thoughtful, sensitive, remorseful adults.
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A life without parole can be more demoralizing than a death sentence. It's the death of hope.
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Virginia and Texas are the two places in the world where juveniles are most likely to be sentenced to death, and where death sentences will be carried out.
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The overwhelming majority of juveniles are involved in impulsive or risky, even delinquent, behaviors during the teenage years. The majority... Go on to become productive citizens who don't commit crimes.
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Immature brain development is not an excuse for juvenile criminal activity,.. (But) it is an explanation which mitigates their culpability. It explains why they should be held accountable and in some cases punished severely, but never as severely as an adult who commits the same crime.
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It's taken 45 years but Johnny Lee Roberts has finally felt comfortable enough to tell the truth of what happened to Kennard. His courage is now causing others to come forward, including prominent whites, to express their long-held misgivings about Kennard's conviction.
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Overcoming a confession in the best of circumstances is a difficult hurdle.
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The hallmark of a false confession is where the confession did not fit with the knowable, verifiable facts of the crime.
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