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Alabama, which held that those 17 and younger could not be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, sometimes referred to as LWOP.

In Mississippi, eight out of 12 juvenile defendants convicted of murder since Miller have gotten LWOP.

Sotomayor responded that since the court required new sentencings for juveniles, "more than a quarter of Mississippi's resentencings have resulted in the reimposition of LWOP," while the rate was an "astonishing" 57 percent in Louisiana.

That means a certain conviction—say, first-degree murder—can’t automatically trigger LWOP; instead, the judge must have discretion to hand down a lighter sentence.

Commonly referred to as LWOP, this sentence is frequently touted as a humane alternative to the death penalty.