Samuel Alito

“ When the majority of this Court countermands that democratic decision, what the majority is saying is that members of society must be exposed to the risk that these convicted murderers, if released from custody, will murder again. ”

“ Having held in Graham that a trial judge with discretionary sentencing authority may not impose a sentence of life without parole on a minor who has committed a nonhomicide offense, the Justices in the majority may soon extend that holding to minors who commit murder. ”

“ The Court now holds that Congress and the legislatures of the 50 States are prohibited by the Constitution from identi- [p510] fying any category of murderers under the age of 18 who must be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. Even a 171⁄2-year-old who sets off a bomb in a crowded mall or guns down a dozen students and teachers is a "child" and must be given a chance to persuade a judge to permit his release into society. ”

“ The category of murderers that the Court delicately calls "children" (murderers under the age of 18) consists overwhelmingly of young men who are fast approaching the legal age of adulthood. Evan Miller and Kuntrell Jackson are anomalies; much more typical are murderers like Christopher Simmons, who committed a brutal thrill-killing just seven months shy of his 18th birthday. ”

“ The second was uncertainty as to the time the offender would spend in prison. Each was a serious impediment to an evenhanded and effective operation of the criminal justice system." Mistretta, supra, at 366 (quoting S. Rep. No. 98–225, at 38, 65 (citation omitted) ) . ”