In the case of Terrance Jamar Graham v. Florida, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that life imprisonment without parole for a minor convicted of a non-homicidal crime is unconstitutional as it violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. The case involved Terrance Jamar Graham who was sentenced to life in prison without parole at age 16 after violating his probation following an armed burglary conviction in Florida. The court held that juveniles have lessened culpability than adults due to their lack of maturity and underdeveloped sense of responsibility; therefore they should not be subjected to the harshest forms of punishments reserved for particularly heinous crimes committed by adults.

The dissenting opinion in the case of Terrance Jamar Graham v. Florida, argued that the majority's decision to categorically ban life without parole sentences for juvenile non-homicide offenders was inconsistent with contemporary standards of decency and failed to consider legitimate penological goals. The dissenters believed that a categorical rule was unnecessary because there were already safeguards in place to prevent excessive punishment, such as appellate review for proportionality and legislative enactments providing minimum age requirements or barring certain punishments for juveniles. They also pointed out that some crimes committed by juveniles are so serious and their characters so depraved, they may deserve life imprisonment without parole even if they did not result in death. Furthermore, it is suggested that this ruling could potentially lead courts into making subjective judgments about a juvenile’s character and potentiality for rehabilitation which would be inappropriate considering their lack of expertise on these matters.