NC Supreme Court Rules on Juvenile Cases - NASW-NC Named in Amicus

The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled on Friday, June 17, 2022 that it is unconstitutionally cruel under both the federal constitution and the NC constitution to confine convicted juveniles for more than 40 years without offering them an opportunity to seek parole.

The National Association of Social Workers North Carolina, led by Disability Rights North Carolina and North Carolina Advocates for Justice, a trial lawyers' association, were among groups that filed Amicus briefs in the cases urging that sentences until parole eligibility for young offenders be capped at 25 years.

The ruling directly mentions the advocate Amicus from the Kelliher Court in the section explaining why the high incidence of trauma and ACEs are relevant to determining that children ought not be subject to life without parole:

Because juveniles have less than fully developed cognitive, social, and emotional skills, they have lessened moral culpability for their actions as compared to adults. Id. at 96. Because juveniles are inherently malleable, they have a greater chance of being rehabilitated as compared to adults. Further, juveniles who become involved in the criminal justice system are disproportionately likely to have experienced various childhood traumas, such as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), which demonstrably impair their cognitive processing and may be expressed, as ably summarized in an amicus brief by Disability Rights North Carolina, “by the early onset of risk behaviors, dysregulation of biological stress systems, alterations in brain anatomy and function, suppression of the immune system, and potential alterations in the child’s epigenome.” Sentencing the vast majority of juvenile offenders to spend their lives in prison is unjustifiable given the “object of punishments” as defined by article XI, section 2 [of the NC Constitution]. Given juveniles’ diminished moral culpability, it is unjustifiably retributive; given juveniles’ heightened capacity for change, it unjustifiably disavows the goal of reform. Punishment which does not correspond to the penological functions enumerated in North Carolina’s Constitution is cruel.

Read more about the NC Supreme Court rulings here:

https://www.wunc.org/news/2022-06-20/nc-justices-young-offenders-are-parole-eligible-at-40-years

Full opinions here: https://appellate.nccourts.org/opinions/?c=1&pdf=41495 and https://appellate.nccourts.org/opinions/?c=1&pdf=41502