LANCASTER, Pa. -- The U.S. Supreme Court made a decision Monday to allow inmates who committed murder as juveniles and sentenced to life in prison a chance for their sentences to be reevaluated.
For 13 inmates who committed murders in Lancaster County as juveniles - that could mean freedom.
They were supposed to serve life sentences, but may now be re-sentenced back into society.
Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman said, "What this decision does is tremendously and dramatically increase the stress and tragedy on the survivors of people who've been murdered by juvenile offenders."
And the victims have no say.
"You can't ask them what their opinion is about now should this person be let out of jail? They're dead."
The most disturbing part, he said, is the possibility of them getting out.
Stedman said, "I think some of them will be extremely dangerous to the community and as I told you, some of the victims are saying, 'We absolutely don't want this person to get out.' I hope that's considered."
He said today parents of juveniles who commit murder are making excuses instead of holding their child accountable for his or her actions.
"The 16-year-old today is far more sophisticated than ever before than the juvenile of 1965 or 1975. And in my mind, because they're more sophisticated, they're more culpable."
He said it will be difficult to dig back into old cases - one of the murders was in 1976.
But some are fresh in his memory.
"Some of the cases were the ones I prosecuted, and those I know never can be released into the community," he said.