Michigan’s mandatory sentencing laws were part of the central debate today as the U.S. Supreme Court struggled over how to handle the nation’s juvenile lifers. Near the end of the first hour of questions , Justice Samuel Alito – seemingly skeptical that state reforms inadvertently led to such sentences – questioned the lawyer representing two inmates serving non-parolable life sentences for crimes at 14 .

A North Carolina man is facing rape charges after a girl more than 20 years younger than him allegedly gave birth to his child. Juan Martinez Hernandez, 35, was arrested on Sunday, shortly after a 14-year-old girl’s family called police and paramedics to an apartment in Charlotte after she gave birth in an apartment bathroom. Hernandez, was placed under arrest after the girl identified him as the father of the infant.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for a California man accused to raping and killing his 14-year-old-daughter before burying her body in the backyard of their home. Mark Edward Mesiti, 44, allegedly drugged and sexually abused his daughter Alycia before killing her in August 2006, just months after a judge granted him custody of his daughter and son, according to court documents. The Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office said it is seeking the death penalty because of a ‘special enhancement’ to charges against Mr Mesiti. Those charges accuse Mesiti of committing murder ‘before or during’ rape, sodomy and oral copulation, according to court documents.

A Pennsylvania man who brutally raped and murdered a young neighbour in the basement of their apartment complex will spend the rest of his life behind bars under a plea deal approved today. The agreement enables James Lee Troutman to avoid the death penalty for the strangling and sexual assault on nine-year-old Skyler Kauffman at the apartment complex in Souderton, where a previous encounter between them prompted a call to the police.

Dutch MPs will today call for an investigation into the case of young men under the age of 21 allegedly castrated in the 1950s by the Roman Catholic Church ‘to get rid of homosexuality.’ The government will come under pressure to probe what some claim is a cover-up of a scandal which saw boys’ testicles removed if they dared report abuse by the clergy. MPs will raise the issue after a Dutch newspaper revealed details of the punishments – which had not been exposed by an official investigation into sexual abuse within the Church published last year.

DRAPER — A man with an extensive criminal history for drugs and assault was arrested Monday for investigation of murder in the death of a 15-year-old Riverton girl. Investigators are accusing him of killing her after she refused to have sex with him. Now, police and family want to know how 31-year-old Daniel Robert Lehi Ferry — who has a street moniker of “Lil Joe,” or “Little Joe” — and Anne Grace Kasprzak came in contact with each other and how she came to be inside his residence.

COVINA, CA — Police are searching for a man they say sexually assaulted a 7-year-old girl Saturday evening outside her Covina home. The girl was in the driveway about 6:45 p.m. when a white man between 18 and 40-years-old walked up to her, covered her mouth with his hand and carried her to the side of the home’s garage, according to a news release issued by the Covina Police Department.

Three young girls and their mother have been found dead after a horrific murder-suicide. It is believed that Christine Adewunmi, 37, from Missouri, shot her three daughters, Lauren, 8, Samantha, 6, and Kate, 3, before turning the gun on herself. According to St. Louis Today, the bodies were found along a Missouri river, each with one gunshot wound to the head.

It was shortly after 8am on a leafy street in a quiet suburb of Toulouse and children were being dropped off at the gates of the Ozar Hatorah Jewish school. The dark motor scooter pulled up and a man described as “determined and athletic” dismounted. Without removing his helmet or saying a word, he opened fire. Witnesses described how the gunman aimed at whoever was in his path, first shooting Jonathan Sandler, 30, a rabbi and teacher, along with his two sons, Aryeh, six, and Gavriel, three, as they waited for a minibus to take them to their nursery. All three are dead.

A landmark Oprah Show event that’s never been done before. Two hundred men courageously stand together to reveal they were all molested. Oprah, Tyler Perry and 200 courageous men continue the conversation about male sexual abuse. They’re breaking down the wall of shame and opening the doors for healing.

One rape victim who was forced to wait 24 years for her rape kit’s results is now taking action to make sure other women in her predicament aren’t subject to the same backlog. Carol Bart, 52, was kidnapped in 1984 – her assailant repeatedly raped her at knife point before letting her go. Though she got a rape kit, which took samples of her attacker’s DNA, the kit sat on a shelf collecting dust for nearly a quarter century. When it was finally tested, the DNA produced a hit, but the five-year statute of limitations had already come and left, leaving little justice for Ms Bart, who had suffered decades of anguish.

WILMINGTON, CA — Another L.A. Unified teacher is being investigated for allegedly inappropriately touching at least one student. The latest allegations concern a teacher at George de La Torre Junior Elementary and could involve up to ten children, authorities said. The unidentified teacher has been removed from the classroom while an investigation is conducted. But the teacher has not been fired, and no arrests have been made.

ARCADIA, CA — Authorities are looking for a convicted sex offender suffering from dementia who was last seen a week ago. James Randall McCain, 58, has been missing since March 12 at about 4 p.m. He was last seen at his apartment building on Huntington Drive near Michillinda Avenue.

AMBER ALERT: Officials say Ada Mae Raleigh was taken from her home by a white female who was approximately 5’7″ to 5’9″ with waist-length blonde hair. The woman was wearing dress clothes and black knee-high boots. She was accompanied by an older male who has gray hair and was wearing khaki colored dress pants and a dress shirt. The pair said they were employees of the state and that they were removing the child by court order. The suspects were driving a sandy colored or beige, possibly gold, Ford Explorer.