This study examined whether there were statistical associations between life sentence types, race, and profiles of persistent criminality among sentenced juvenile homicide offenders (JHOs). The Miller v. Alabama (2012) decision required judges to differentiate irreparably corrupt JHOs from non-irreparably corrupt offenders in its sentencing considerations. The study analyzed a sample of 101 JHOs drawn from a population of 109 JHOs serving life sentences in Arizona prior to the Montgomery v. Louisiana (2016) decision. The study employed a two-step clustering method to identify serious infraction profiles among Arizona juvenile lifers, focusing on major infractions committed in prison. The findings did not indicate any statistical associations between serious infraction profiles and the differentially sentenced groups of JHOs. Additionally, 61% of natural lifers belonged to the low and medium criminal persistence groups rather than the high criminal persistence group, deviating from the pronouncements in the Miller v. Alabama decision of reserving natural life sentences for irreparably corrupt JHOs. Furthermore, race demonstrated no significant association with criminal infraction profiles. The implications of these findings for future research, sentencing policies, and release decision-making processes have been discussed.

本研究检验了被判无期徒刑的青少年杀人犯 (JHO) 中的无期徒刑类型、种族和持续犯罪概况之间是否存在统计关联。米勒诉阿拉巴马州案（Miller v. Alabama，2012）的判决要求法官在量刑考虑时将不可挽回的腐败 JHO 与非不可挽回的腐败罪犯区分开来。该研究分析了蒙哥马利诉路易斯安那州(2016 年) 裁决之前亚利桑那州 109 名正在服无期徒刑的 JHO 群体中抽取的 101 名 JHO 样本。该研究采用两步聚类方法来识别亚利桑那州青少年无期徒刑者的严重违法行为，重点关注监狱中犯下的重大违法行为。研究结果并未表明严重违法行为与 JHO 的差别判刑群体之间存在任何统计关联。此外，61%的自然无期徒刑者属于低度和中度犯罪持续性群体，而不是高度犯罪持续性群体，这偏离了米勒诉阿拉巴马州判决中对不可挽回的腐败 JHO 保留自然无期徒刑的声明。此外，种族与犯罪违规情况没有显着关联。人们讨论了这些发现对未来研究、量刑政策和释放决策过程的影响。