Childhood should be a place of learning and redemption, not an unlocked prison cell,” says Bryan Stevenson, a civil rights attorney. “When we condemn a child to die in prison, we’re saying they’re incapable of change, and that flies in the face of all human and scientific logic.”

In a society constantly debating justice, security, and second chances, the case of the 79 minors sentenced to life imprisonment serves as a reminder that a nation’s humanity is also measured by how it treats its most vulnerable children.