Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/11pdf/10-9646.pdf
Page Number: 39

Cite as:  567 U. S. ____ (2012) 

3 

ROBERTS, C. J., dissenting 

unnecessary  or  unjust.  But  decency  is  not  the  same  as 
leniency.  A  decent  society  protects  the  innocent  from 
violence.  A  mature  society  may  determine  that  this  re-
quires removing those guilty of the most heinous murders 
from  its  midst,  both  as  protection  for  its  other  members
and  as  a  concrete  expression  of  its  standards  of  decency. 
As  judges  we  have  no  basis  for  deciding  that  progress 
toward  greater  decency  can  move  only  in  the  direction  of 
easing sanctions on the guilty. 

In  this  case,  there  is  little  doubt  about  the  direction  of 
society’s evolution: For most of the 20th century, American
sentencing  practices  emphasized  rehabilitation  of  the 
offender and the availability of parole.  But by the 1980’s,
outcry  against  repeat  offenders,  broad  disaffection  with
the rehabilitative model, and other factors led many legis-
latures  to  reduce  or  eliminate  the  possibility  of  parole, 
imposing  longer  sentences  in  order  to  punish  criminals
and prevent them from committing more crimes.  See, e.g., 
Alschuler,  The  Changing  Purposes  of  Criminal  Punish-
ment,  70  U. Chi. L. Rev.  1,  1–13  (2003);  see  generally 
Crime  and  Public  Policy  (J.  Wilson  &  J.  Petersilia  eds.
2011).  Statutes establishing life without parole sentences
in  particular  became  more  common  in  the  past  quarter 
century.  See  Baze  v.  Rees,  553  U. S.  35,  78,  and  n. 10 
(2008)  (Stevens,  J.,  concurring  in  judgment).    And  the 
parties  agree  that  most  States  have  changed  their  laws
relatively recently to expose teenage murderers to manda-
tory  life  without  parole.    Jackson  Brief  54–55;  Alabama 
Brief 4–5. 

The Court attempts to avoid the import of the fact that 
so many jurisdictions have embraced the sentencing prac-
tice  at  issue  by  comparing  this  case  to  the  Court’s  prior
Eighth Amendment cases.  The Court notes that Graham 
found a punishment authorized in 39 jurisdictions uncon-
stitutional,  whereas  the  punishment  it  bans  today  is 
mandated in 10 fewer.  Ante, at 21.  But Graham went to