Supreme Court to Decide; Allowing Life Imprisonment Juveniles

WASHINGTON — Terrance Jamar Graham was 16 in 2003, when he and two accomplices broke into a Jacksonville restaurant and tried to rob the place. He pleaded guilty and got three years' probation on the condition he stay out of trouble. A year later, Graham and another pair of accomplices forced their way into an apartment and robbed two men. That landed him in prison for life, without parole. Although the number of young offenders imprisoned for life is small, juvenile law experts say their plight gives a face to a larger national debate over the wisdom of tough juvenile sentences in various circumstances. Now the Supreme Court is entering the debate — and will potentially influence juvenile sentencing trends nationwide. In arguments to be held Monday, the justices will use Graham's case and that of Joe Sullivan, who was 13 when he raped an elderly woman in 1989, to decide whether life-without-parole sentences for young criminals are unconstitutionally harsh.