Jermaine C. Jackson, Petitioner v. State of Florida, Respondent

Summary

The court upheld the facial constitutionality of the youthful-offender eligibility requirement limiting eligibility to defendants who are younger than twenty-one when sentenced. It held that youthful-offender eligibility is neither a fundamental right nor a classification involving a suspect class, so rational-basis review applies, and concluded that the age-at-sentencing requirement is rationally related to rehabilitation and preventing young offenders from associating with older criminals. Justice Pariente, dissenting, would have held that the provision improperly penalizes defendants for exercising the right to trial and violates substantive due process.