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Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad has commuted 38 life sentences as part of a plan to keep killers who committed their crimes as juveniles in prison and forestall their resentencings.
The action Branstad announced Monday will change 38 sentences from life without the possibility of parole to life sentences that allow parole only after 60 years.
Branstad chose to act because a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision barred sentences of life without parole for juveniles.
Branstad says he wants to protect the victims of violent crime.
Last week, an Iowa court vacated the sentences of two Iowa inmates who were teenagers when they were involved in murders. It wasn't immediately clear how Branstad's action would affect the cases of Christine Lockheart and Thomas Bennett.
