Substitute Senate Bill 256 Summary

• Prohibits life without parole sentences for offenders who committed crimes before age 18; requires indefinite sentences with 30-year minimums instead.

• Creates new parole eligibility framework for juvenile offenders based on offense severity: 18 years for non-homicide offenses, 25 years for single homicide, 30 years for multiple homicides.

• Requires courts and parole boards to consider youth-related mitigating factors including age, maturity, family circumstances, rehabilitation potential, and youth incompetencies during sentencing and parole hearings.

• Modifies sentencing statutes for rape, terrorism, aggravated murder, and murder to explicitly bar life without parole for offenders under 18, with limited exceptions for aggravated homicide offenses.

• Applies automatically to all offenders serving sentences for crimes committed when under 18, regardless of when the sentence was originally imposed, and applies to prior offenses if the offender has not yet been sentenced.