ACLU Calls on Supreme Court to Overturn 241-Year Sentence for 16-Year-Old
Bobby Bostic Will Not Be Eligible for Parole until He’s 112 Years Old, a Cruel and Unusual Punishment for a Conviction for Robberies Committed at 16
WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Missouri filed a brief asking the Supreme Court of the United States overturn a 241-year prison sentence imposed on 16-year-old Bobby Bostic for his involvement in a pair of St. Louis robberies in which no one was seriously hurt. Bostic will not be eligible for parole until age 112, many decades past his life expectancy.
“The state of Missouri refers to age 112 as ‘very old age,’ ‘extreme old age,’ or simply ‘old age,’ but no euphemism can obscure the fact that Mr. Bostic will die in prison,” said Tony Rothert, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, which represents Bostic along with the national ACLU. “This case calls out for the court’s review. For crimes committed on one day without anyone getting seriously hurt, a 16-year-old boy was sentenced to die in prison.”
The trial judge in Bostic’s case sentenced him to die in prison, telling him, “you will die in the Department of Corrections.”
In 2010, the Supreme Court held in Graham v. Florida that the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment “prohibits the imposition of a life without parole sentence on a juvenile offender who did not commit homicide.”
The decision requires that the state provide a “meaningful opportunity to obtain release based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation.” The court based the ruling in part on the growing scientific consensus that children are different and have unique capacity to grow and change.
The sentencing judge in Bostic’s case has since publicly regretted the punishment she gave him. In February, she joined 26 former judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement officials in signing a friend-of-the-court brief asking the Supreme Court to consider Bostic’s case.
Seventy-five criminal justice leaders — including former U.S. Solicitors General Kenneth Starr and Donald Verrilli, former Acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates, and former FBI Director William Webster — are also urging the Supreme Court to overturn Mr. Bostic’s sentence.=
For the brief filed today and other information about Mr. Bostic’s case, go to: https://www.aclu.org/cases/bobby-bostic-v-rhoda-pash
Stay Informed
Every month, you'll receive regular roundups of the most important civil rights and civil liberties developments. Remember: a well-informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.
By completing this form, I agree to receive occasional emails per the terms of the ACLU’s privacy policy.
The Latest in Smart Justice
ACLU's Vision
The American Civil Liberties Union is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America.
Learn More About Smart Justice
The ACLU Campaign for Smart Justice is an unprecedented, multiyear effort to reduce the U.S. jail and prison population by 50% and to challenge racism in the criminal legal system.