Elena Kagan

“ A person who owns a car free and clear is entitled to claim the "Operating Costs" deduction for all these expenses of driving—and Ransom in fact did so, to the tune of $338. But such a person is not entitled to claim the "Ownership Costs" deduction, because that allowance is for the separate costs of a car loan or lease. ”

“ In many of these jurisdictions, life without parole is the mandatory punishment only for aggravated forms of murder. That distinction makes no difference to our analysis. We have consistently held that limiting a mandatory death penalty law to particular kinds of murder cannot cure the law's "constitutional vice" of disregarding the "circumstances of the particular offense and the character and propensities of the offender." ”

“ It is easy to imagine a judge deciding that a minor deserves a (much) harsher sentence than he would receive in juvenile court, while still not thinking life-without-parole appropriate. For that reason, the discretion available to a judge at the transfer stage cannot substitute for discretion at post-trial sentencing in adult court—and so cannot satisfy the Eighth Amendment.
IV Graham, Roper, and our individualized sentencing decisions make clear that a judge or jury must have the opportunity to consider mitigating circumstances before imposing the harshest possible penalty for juveniles. ”

“ The Collection Financial Standards—the IRS's explanatory guidelines to the National and Local Standards—explicitly recognize this distinction between ownership and operating costs, making clear that individuals who have a car but make no loan or lease payments may claim only the operating allowance. ”

“ By requiring that all children convicted of homicide receive lifetime incarceration without possibility of parole, regardless of their age and age-related characteristics and the nature of their crimes, the mandatory-sentencing schemes before us violate this principle of proportionality, and so the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. ”

“ Rather than authorizing all debtors to take deductions in all listed categories, Congress established a filter: A debtor may claim a deduction from a National or Local Standard table (like " [Car] Ownership Costs") if but only if that deduction is appropriate for him. And a deduction is so appropriate only if the debtor has costs corresponding to the category covered by the table—that is, only if the debtor will incur that kind of expense during the life of the plan. ”

“ And this lengthiest possible incarceration is an "especially harsh punishment for a juvenile," because he will almost inevitably serve "more years and a greater percentage of his life in prison than an adult offender." Graham, 560 U.S., at 70. The penalty when imposed on a teenager, as compared with an older person, is therefore "the same . . . in name only." Ibid. All of that suggested a distinctive set of legal rules: In part because we viewed this ultimate penalty for juveniles as akin to the death penalty, we treated it similarly to that most severe punishment. ”

“ Further, Ransom's argument mistakes what the deductions in the means test are meant to accomplish. Rather than effecting any broad federal policy as to saving or borrowing, the deductions serve merely to ensure that debtors in bankruptcy can afford essential items. The car-ownership allowance thus safeguards a debtor's ability to retain a car throughout the plan period. If the debtor already owns a car outright, he has no need for this protection. ”

“ By removing youth from the balance—by subjecting a juvenile to the same life-without-parole sentence applicable to an adult—these laws prohibit a sentencing authority from assessing whether the law's harshest term of imprisonment proportionately punishes a juvenile offender. ”

“ The Code initially defines a debtor's disposable income as his "current monthly income . . . less amounts reasonably necessary to be expended." §1325 (b) (2) (emphasis added) . The statute then instructs that " [a] mounts reasonably necessary to be expended . . . shall be determined in accordance with" the means test. §1325 (b) (3) . Because Congress intended the means test to approximate the debtor's reasonable expenditures on essential items, a debtor should be required to qualify for a deduction by actually incurring an expense in the relevant category. ”

“ Under these schemes, [p477] every juvenile will receive the same sentence as every other—the 17-year-old and the 14-year-old, the shooter and the accomplice, the child from a stable household and the child from a chaotic and abusive one. And still worse, each juvenile (including these two 14-year-olds) will receive the same sentence as the vast majority of adults committing similar homicide offenses—but really, as Graham noted, a greater sentence than those adults will serve. [7] In meting out the death penalty, the elision of all these differences would be strictly forbidden. ”

“ Second and still more important, the question at transfer hearings may differ dramatically from the issue at a post-trial sentencing. Because many juvenile systems require that the offender be released at a particular age or after a certain number of years, transfer decisions often present a choice between extremes: light punishment as a child or standard sentencing as an adult (here, life without parole) . In many States, for example, a child convicted in juvenile court must be released from custody by the age of 21. ”

“ Such formulas are by their nature over- and under-inclusive. In eliminating the pre-BAPCPA case-by-case adjudication of above-median-income debtors' expenses, on the ground that it leant itself to abuse, Congress chose to tolerate the occasional peculiarity that a brighter-line test produces. And Ransom's alternative reading of the statute would spawn its own anomalies—even placing to one side the fundamental strangeness of giving a debtor an allowance for loan or lease payments when he has not a penny of loan or lease
page 17, slip opinion costs. ”

“ Where mandatory sentencing does not itself account for the number of juveniles serving life-without-parole terms, the evidence we have of practice supports our holding. Fifteen jurisdictions make life without parole discretionary for juveniles. ”

“ Expenses that are wholly fictional are not easily thought of as reasonably necessary. And finally, Ransom's interpretation would run counter to the statute’s overall purpose of ensuring that debtors repay creditors to the extent they can—here, by shielding some $28,000 that he does not in fact need for loan or lease payments. ”

“ All that is just as true here. Almost all jurisdictions allow some juveniles to be tried in adult court for some kinds of homicide. See Dept. of Justice, H. Snyder & M. Sickmund, Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 2006 National Report 110–114 (hereinafter 2006 National Report) . But most States do not have separate penalty provisions for those juvenile offenders. Of the 29 jurisdictions mandating life without parole for children, more than half do so by virtue of generally applicable penalty provisions, imposing the sentence without regard to age. ”

“ And in other contexts as well, the characteristics of youth, and the way they weaken rationales for punishment, can render a life-without-parole sentence disproportionate. Cf. id., at 71–74 (generally doubting the penological justifications for imposing life without parole on juveniles) . "An offender's age," we made clear in Graham, "is relevant to the Eighth Amendment," and so "criminal procedure laws that fail to take defendants' youthfulness into account at all [p474] would be flawed." ”

“ Ransom first points out a troubling anomaly: Under our interpretation, " [d] ebtors can time their bankruptcy filing to take place while they still have a few car payments left, thus retaining an ownership deduction which they would lose if they filed just after making their last payment." Brief for Petitioner 54. Indeed, a debtor with only a single car payment remaining, Ransom notes, is eligible to claim a monthly ownership deduction. ”

“ To be sure, Jackson learned on the way to the video store that his friend Shields was carrying a gun, but his age could well have affected his calculation of the risk that posed, as well as his willingness to walk away at that point. All these circumstances go to Jackson's culpability for the offense. See Graham, 560 U.S., at 69 (" [W] hen compared to an adult murderer, a juvenile offender who did not kill or intend to kill has a twice diminished moral culpability") . ”

“ If a debtor will not have a particular kind of expense during his plan, an allowance to cover that cost is not "reasonably necessary" within the meaning of the statute. [5]
Finally, consideration of BAPCPA's purpose strengthens our reading of the term "applicable." Congress designed
5 This interpretation also avoids the anomalous result of granting preferential treatment to individuals with above-median income. ”

“ Ransom appealed to the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel, which affirmed. In re Ransom, 380 B. R. 799, 808–809 (2007) . The panel reasoned that an "expense [amount] becomes relevant to the debtor (i.e., appropriate or applicable to the debtor) when he or she in fact has such an expense." Id., at 807. " [W] hat is important," the panel noted, "is the payments that debtors actually make, not how many cars they own, because [those] payments . . .are what actually affect their ability to" reimburse unse-
page 6, slip opinion cured creditors. ”

“ See, e.g., Brief for American Psychological Association et al. as Amici Curiae 3 (" [A] n ever-growing body of research in developmental psychology and neuroscience continues to confirm and strengthen the Court's conclusions") ; id., at 4 ("It is increasingly clear that adolescent brains are not yet fully mature in regions and systems related to higher-order executive functions such as impulse control, planning ahead, and risk avoidance") ”

“ B Ransom filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy relief in July 2006. App. 1, 54. Among his liabilities, Ransom itemized over $82,500 in unsecured debt, including a claim held by respondent FIA Card Services, N. A. (FIA) . Id., at 41. Among his assets, Ransom listed a 2004 Toyota Camry, valued at $14,000, which he owns free of any debt. Id., at 38, 49, 52. For purposes of the means test, Ransom reported in-
3 Although both components of the transportation allowance are listed in the Local Standards, only the operating-cost expense amounts vary by geography ”

“ Code § 12–15–34 (1977) . The D.A. did so, and the juvenile court agreed to the transfer after a hearing. Citing the nature of the crime, Miller's "mental maturity," and his prior juvenile offenses (truancy and "criminal mischief") , the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed. E.J.M. v. State, No. CR–03–0915, pp. 5–7 (Aug. 27, 2004) (unpublished memorandum) . [3] The State [p469] accordingly charged Miller as an adult with murder in the course of arson. ”

“ Internal Revenue Manual §§5.15.1.7 and 5.15.1.8 (May 1, 2004) , reprinted in App. to Brief for Respondent 16a, 20a; see also IRS, Collection Financial Standards (Feb. 19, 2010) , http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96543,00.html. ”

“ When Troup threatened to call the police, Shields shot and killed her. The three boys fled emptyhanded. See id., at 89–92, 194 S.W.3d, at 758–760.
Arkansas law gives prosecutors discretion to charge 14-year-olds as adults when they are alleged to have committed certain serious offenses. See Ark. Code Ann. § 9–27–318 (c) (1998) . The prosecutor here exercised that authority by charging Jackson with capital felony murder and aggravated robbery. ”