Cyntoia Brown was released from a Tennessee prison Wednesday after the 31-year-old served 15 years of a life sentence handed down when she was 16 for killing a man who purchased her for sex in a trafficking scheme, the state's Department of Corrections said.
Why it matters: Brown was granted clemency by former Gov. Bill Haslam in January. Her case highlighted how the U.S. is the only nation in the world where minors can be sentenced to prison for life without parole, spurring celebrity support that brought attention to her story and changes to juvenile sentencing laws in Tennessee.
Go deeper: How American kids get sentenced to life in prison