Peters v. Illinois

Peters asked the Supreme Court to review whether the Eighth Amendment applies to a prison term so long that it works like a life sentence. The Court declined to take the case for full review, so it did not decide that question on the merits.

The issue affects people sentenced as juveniles to very long prison terms, even when the sentence is not formally called life without parole. Because the Court did not take this case, the Illinois result stayed in place and the broader question remains for other cases.

The Supreme Court has finished this docket action. The Illinois lower-court result remains in place, and the same issue would need to return in another case for a broader answer.

It asked whether Miller and Montgomery extend to a sentence that is not formally life but works like life in prison.

People sentenced as juveniles to extremely long prison terms could be affected. For example, a decades-long sentence may operate like life imprisonment.

Nothing more is scheduled in this Supreme Court docket. The Illinois result remains in place unless the same issue returns in another case.