After the U.S. Supreme Court ordered that Miller be applied retroactively regarding de facto life sentences for juveniles, the Illinois Supreme Court in People v. Buffer created a bright-line rule: Any sentence of incarceration greater than 40 years is a de facto life sentence and must comply with Miller and its progeny. This caused a stir in Illinois trial courts, as myriad postconviction petitions were filed by juvenile offenders who were serving terms longer than 40 years and seeking a resentencing under the new rules stemming from Miller. In Joseph T. Moran’s March 2021 Illinois Bar Journal article, “Juvenile Life Sentences After Miller,” Moran notes that practitioners can draw from a substantial amount of caselaw to effectively identify when resentencings are required to address a juvenile offender’s youth and attendant circumstances during a sentencing or Miller resentencing hearing.

Read more in the March issue of the Illinois Bar Journal.