1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to public safety; prohibiting the use of life imprisonment without the 
1.3 	possibility of release sentences for juvenile offenders; complying with United 
1.4 	States Supreme Court decisions;proposing coding for new law in Minnesota 
1.5 	Statutes, chapter 631.
1.6 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.7 	Section 1. [631.53] SENTENCING JUVENILES.
1.8 	(a) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, a person shall not be sentenced to life 
1.9 	imprisonment without the possibility of release for any offense if at the time of the 
1.10 	commission of the offense the person was younger than 18 years of age. The maximum 
1.11 	punishment that the court may impose on a person for any offense that was committed when 
1.12 	that person was younger than 18 years of age is life imprisonment with the possibility of 
1.13 	release after 25 years.
1.14 	(b) When sentencing a person who was younger than 18 years of age at the time of an 
1.15 	offense that otherwise would require the court to impose a sentence of life imprisonment 
1.16 	without the possibility of release or life imprisonment with the possibility of release after 
1.17 	more than 25 years, the court shall impose a sentence of life imprisonment with the possibility 
1.18 	of release after 25 years.

1.19 	EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective the day following final enactment and 
1.20 	applies to a defendant sentenced on or after that date for a crime or crimes that were 
1.21 	committed while the defendant was younger than 18 years of age.