Neuroscience and Quin’s youth

Recent neuroscience findings show that people’s brains do not reach full maturity until at least their mid-20s.  This new scientific research thus calls into question the reliability of any psychological evaluation that would assess the “future dangerousness” of defendants in their early 20s, like Jones.  Back in 2005, the Supreme Court categorically banned imposing the death sentence on people under the age of 18 because those defendants are still maturing, thus making it “difficult for expert psychologists to differentiate between the juvenile offender whose crime reflects transient immaturity and the rare juvenile offender whose crime reflects irreparable corruption.”  Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 544, 573 (2005).  This new research now demonstrates that this same difficulty is present for people in their early 20s. 

In short, the research shows that any psychological assessment of Quin made at trial was unreliable to predict his future dangerousness because there was no way to determine whether he was in a time of “transient immaturity” or was a person with “irreparable corruption.”  Decades of Jones’s subsequent behavior make it clear that he does not pose an ongoing threat to society. Jones has no record of violent transgressions during his time in prison.  And his medical records, even in the early years of his incarceration, show no need for psychological treatment.  Far from presenting a danger to those in the prison where he lives, Jones can peacefully live out his days in prison as he has done since the beginning of his incarceration.