Publication Date
3-14-2013
Document Type
Article
Organizational Units
Sturm College of Law
Keywords
heightened scrutiny, Miller v. Alabama, life without parole, cruel and unusual punishment
Abstract
The Supreme Court recently held, in Miller v. Alabama, that mandatory life without parole for juveniles violates the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause of the Eighth Amendment. This Essay argues that, although the case’s result is important, Miller will gain long-term significance not because of what it holds, but because of what it heralds: a fundamental shift in the Court’s Eighth Amendment methodology—specifically, a move away from using “objective indicia” to determine society’s evolving standards. The Essay suggests that the Supreme Court replace its objective indicia analysis with the application of heightened scrutiny to “suspect categories” of punishment, namely, categories for which we have reason to be skeptical of the legislature’s claim that a severe punishment is proportional to the offense and offender.
Publication Statement
Copyright held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Originally published as Ian Farrell, Abandoning Objective Indicia, 122 Yale L. J. Online 303 (2013).
Recommended Citation
Ian Farrell, Abandoning Objective Indicia, 122 Yale L. J. Online 303 (2013).