Raines v. State

Summary

The court held that a juvenile convicted of murder has no federal constitutional right to have a jury determine whether the juvenile is irreparably corrupt or permanently incorrigible before receiving a sentence of life without parole. Georgia's murder statute authorizes life without parole upon a murder conviction, and the Eighth Amendment's requirement that the sentencing court assess juvenile culpability does not transform that assessment into a Sixth Amendment factfinding required to be made by a jury. The court therefore affirmed the denial of Raines's motion for a jury determination.