For Teen Killers, Iowa Bans Life Without Parole

Life without parole is now off the table for juveniles convicted of first-degree murder in Iowa, reports the AP. In a 4-3 ruling Friday, the state Supreme Court says such sentences equal cruel and unusual punishment because predicting young people's "future prospects for maturation and rehabilitation" is impossible when their brains are still developing, per the Des Moines Register. "The parole board will be better able to discern whether the offender is irreparably corrupt after time has passed." The ruling overturned Isaiah Sweet's sentence of life without parole in the shooting deaths of his grandparents in 2012, when he was 17. (More Iowa stories.)