Introduction: Evolving Standards in Juvenile Justice from Gault to Graham and Beyond

Professor Abrams will set the stage for the program, recounting the development of the United States juvenile justice system, with particular emphasis on Missouri. He will outline doctrinal developments from the nation’s first juvenile court, to the Supreme Court’s decision in Gault providing due process protections for youth, to the Court’s recent sentencing decisions in Roper v. Simmons and Graham v. Florida defining youth as categorically less culpable than adults. This session will also provide an update on two cases currently before the Supreme Court, which seek to further prohibit life without parole sentences for youth.