In a 6-3 vote, the conservatives on the Supreme Court gutted protections against sentencing kids to die in prison.

The court ruled on Thursday that a judge does not need to find that a person under 18 who commits murder is permanently incorrigible before sentencing them to life in prison without parole. In other words, the court approved life without parole sentences for juveniles even if the facts of the case indicate the crime was a result of youthful immaturity and impulsiveness that the individual is likely to outgrow.

The decision in Jones v. Mississippi is a huge setback to the movement to end juvenile life without parole, a punishment that only exists in the U.S. and is banned in half the states in the country. The decision also contradicts Supreme Court precedent that restricted the use of the extreme punishment for kids.