Whether the Miller ban on mandatory life without parole sentences for juvenile homicide offenders should be extended to youths under the age of 21

QUESTION PRESENTED In Miller v. Alabama, 132 S. Ct. 2455, (2012), this Court held mandatory life sentences without parole for juvenile homicide offenders violates the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments. This holding relied primarily on scientific findings that the brain of a juvenile under age 18 is not fully developed and therefore a juvenile cannot be subject to a sentence of life without parole unless there is a finding by the sentencing court of permanent incorrigibility. The question is whether the Miller ban of life without parole sentences should be extended to youths under the age of 21 since unconroverted scientific findings have been made that there is no difference in the brain development of a youth of 21 as opposed to youths under the age of 18. Hence, the same standards set forth in Miller and later expanded in Montgomery v. Louisiana, 136 S. Ct. 718 (2016) should apply to life sentences without parole to youths of 20 years.