OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Three challenges to Washington’s ‘three strikes law’ were rejected by the state Supreme Court.
The law requires automatic sentences of life in prison without parole the third time someone commits a “most serious offense”.
Defendants in the case claimed it was unconstitutional to sentence them to life without release when they committed at least one of their crimes when they were young adults.
The justices said they recognize scientific evidence proving people’s brains continue to develop into their mid-20s, but that concerns about sentencing young people do not apply to adults who continue to commit serious crimes after their brains have fully developed.