SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California attorney general has reversed his previous position and now opposes sentencing violent youth offenders to terms longer than 50 years to life, according to an article from The San Francisco Chronicle.
This change in opinion from Attorney General Rob Bonta comes as a case reaches the state Supreme Court regarding whether lengthy terms — any longer than 50 years — for youth offenders constitute life without parole or de facto death sentences, which have been prohibited by the U.S. Supreme Court, reports the Chronicle.
Though the state Supreme Court has barred 50-years-to-life sentences for minors convicted of non-homicidal crimes, a recent case in an appeals court upheld a 50-years-to-life sentence for a Los Angeles man convicted in 2005 of gang-related murder at age 17…