Virtual CLE
Juvenile Life Sentences: Constitutional and State Limitations
Presented by: Professor Margareth Etienne, University of Illinois College of Law
August 3, 2022
12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
In 2012, the Supreme Court held that in all but rare cases, the imposition of “life without parole” sentences for juveniles violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments. So when the U.S. Supreme Court decided last year in Jones v. Mississippi to uphold a “life without parole” sentence that was imposed on a 15-year old without factual findings, the decision created a legal vacuum for states to determine how to define those unusual cases in which juvenile life sentences were constitutional. This course will examine how Illinois courts have responded in the wake of Jones.
Margareth Etienne is the Carl L. Vacketta Professor of Law at the University of Illinois. She received her bachelor’s degree in history from Yale University, and earned her law degree from Yale Law School. Following law school, Etienne clerked for Judge Diana G. Motz on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. She later practiced criminal law as a Federal Public Defender where she argued cases in the Northern District of Georgia and before the Eleventh Circuit. Professor Etienne joined the College of Law in 2001, where she is a scholar and teacher in the areas of criminal law and procedure, sentencing, education law and children in the law. Her research focuses on decision-making and ethics among the institutional players that shape the impact of our criminal laws and procedures. She has published articles in many of the most prestigious journals in her field, including Stanford Law Review, N.Y.U. Law Review, California Law Review, University of Chicago Legal Forum, Illinois Law Review, Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, Texas Tech Law Review, Connecticut Law Review and many others. She is also a co-author of the Illinois Judicial Benchbook on Criminal Law. Her work has been cited in several court cases and she has delivered more than 150 invited talks, lectures and interviews about her research n the United States and 8 other countries around the world. Professor Etienne is a recipient of a Fulbright Scholar grant, is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and is a Public Voices Fellow. Professor Etienne is also the inaugural Associate Dean for Graduate and International Programs, where she oversees the College of Law’s international endeavors as well JSD, LLM, and MSL degree programs.
This course is approved for 1.00 Illinois MCLE general credit hour.
This event is free and open to the public, but registration in requested. Please register here:
https://forms.illinois.edu/sec/1508949606
Join by Zoom:
https://illinois.zoom.us/j/88442885268?pwd=tSF6kRFVeIMd_vz2syc_Arw34Ko-eK.1
Meeting ID: 884 4288 5268
Password: 872698