Youth serving life without parole

Connecticut’s state Supreme Court recently ruled that imprisoning juveniles for life in prison without the possibility of release is not unconstitutional. The state currently holds 13 such offenders. The U.S. is one of a handful of nations in the world that carries out this sentence, and nationally more than 2,200 inmates convicted of crimes they committed as juveniles have been sentenced to life without parole. But advocates for these young people take heart from the U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2005 banning the execution of juveniles who had been sentenced to death. In the first of a two-part series on youth incarceration, Melinda Tuhus reports from New Haven.

Click here for the full newscast for Thursday, March 12, 2009