A champion for justice
We honor the life and legacy of Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa and freedom fighter.
Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (EIN 27-3761788) is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
Federal judge orders Michigan to implement parole process for children serving life sentences
A United States District Court judge in Michigan has ordered the state to immediately comply with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Miller v. Alabama by making everyone serving life sentences for crimes that occurred when they were under 18 immediately parole eligible if they have served at least 10 years in prison.
In his ruling, U.S. District Judge John O’Meara emphasized the need for parole opportunities to be “fair, meaningful, and realistic,” and included certain requirements to ensure this is the case. They include:
a) The state must give notice to all of these individuals that their parole eligibility will be considered in a meaningful and realistic manner.
b) In making a determination of parole eligibility, the parole board is required to set forth an explanation of its reasoning.
c) Sentencing judges are prohibited from vetoing parole decisions.
d) No person sentenced to life without parole for crimes that occurred when they were under 18 shall be denied access to any educational or training program that is available to the general population.
The state is required to submit a program compliant with these requirements by January 31. If the state fails to do so, the court may appoint a Special Master to fashion appropriate relief.
The decision applies retroactively to the more than 350 people sentenced to life in prison for crimes committed as children in Michigan.
Congratulations to Michigan attorney Deb LaBelle, the ACLU and the ACLU of Michigan for this outstanding win. LaBelle is a member of the CFSY Board of Directors.
A reason for hope
Ralph Brazel and his mother, Esi Mathis, cheer after they are introduced during Healing & Hope 2013. Ralph was sentenced to three terms of life without the possibility of parole when he was 17. He became eligible for relief after the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Graham v. Florida, which found that it is unconstitutional to sentence a child to life in prison without the possibility of parole for a non-homicide crime. Ralph was released earlier this year, two month before his 40th birthday.
Proof that kids can -- and do -- change
People who went to prison as children for serious crimes and are now doing great things in their communities help to demonstrate that kids change and that we are all more than the worst thing that we have ever done. These formerly incarcerated youth took part in the Annual Convening hosted by the CFSY on November 13 through 15. They are now dedicated to reducing youth violence and increasing peace. Pictured, from left to right, are Xavier McElrath-Bey, Eric Alexander, William Outlaw, Tyrone Werts, Ralph Brazel Jr. (Amin Rafiq), Raphael Johnson and Oshea Israel.
Sparing children from life in prison without parole
By Gary Gately
JJIE
November 15, 2013
WASHINGTON – Jason Baldwin hopes to spare others from growing up, growing old – and dying – in prison.
Baldwin, who was sentenced to life without parole at 16 for a crime he did not commit, served 18 years and since his release in 2011 has become a crusader against sentencing youths to life without parole. He is one of the “West Memphis Three” – who as teenagers in 1994 were convicted of the 1993 murders of three boys in West Memphis, Ark.
The 36-year-old Baldwin, who now lives in Seattle, brought his message to the nation’s capital Wednesday night at an annual reception and fundraiser of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, a national organization that seeks to abolish life-without-parole sentences for all youth.
“I cannot believe that we are a society where we would place no value in people who have made a mistake — no matter how terrible — at a young age,” Baldwin told JJIE.org.
A bid to keep youths out of adult prisons
October 28, 2013
The New York Times
By JOHN SCHWARTZ
DENVER — James Stewart died alone.
The 17-year-old from Denver had committed a terrible act: while driving drunk, he slammed into another vehicle head on and killed its driver. Initially placed with other juvenile offenders, he was moved to the county lockup after the district attorney charged him as an adult. Left alone in his cell despite his frantic pleas to be with others, he tightened his bedsheets around his neck and killed himself.
His death, in 2008, was one of two suicides by young people in Colorado jails that helped spur a significant change in state law last year by narrowing the authority of prosecutors to charge juveniles as adults and to place them in adult jails, part of a wave of such laws nationwide.
In a reversal of the tough-on-crime legislation that swept the nation in the late 1980s and ’90s, nearly half of the states have now enacted one or more laws that nudge more young offenders into the juvenile justice system, divert them from being automatically tried as adults and keep them from being placed in adult jails and prisons.
Sarah Brown, a director of the criminal justice program at the National Conference of State Legislatures, said the shift stems from a decline in juvenile crime, concerns about the costs of adult prisons and a growing understanding of adolescent brain development showing that the young have a greater potential for rehabilitation.
The Supreme Court has increasingly taken neurological research into account on juvenile justice issues — most recently in a 2012 case, Miller v. Alabama, which barred mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole for those who committed their crimes before they turned 18. Justice Elena Kagan’s majority opinion in the case cited adolescents’ “diminished culpability and heightened capacity for change.”
Kids can change!
President Jimmy Carter, in a 2012 letter to California Gov. Jerry Brown, spoke of the need for second chances for children convicted of serious crimes.
Lawsuit claims children suffer sexual, emotional abuse in Michigan prisons
By Paul Egan
Detroit Free Press
LANSING — An attorney who won a $100-million settlement stemming from sexual assaults by guards on female inmates is suing the Michigan Department of Corrections again — this time, claiming that male inmates younger than 18 have been sexually and physically assaulted by adults they have been housed with.
Ann Arbor attorney Deborah LaBelle, who won a 2009 settlement on behalf of more than 500 female Michigan prisoners who said they were sexually abused by corrections officers, filed the latest lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Detroit on Tuesday.
Plaintiffs are seven unnamed John Doe prisoners who say they were sexually and physically assaulted or harassed while housed as minors in the Michigan prison system.
Children, even teenagers, do not belong in adult jails
By The New York Times Editorial Board
October 15
Fast Fact: Recognizing children as different
In the past eight years, eight states have changed their mandatory minimum sentencing laws to take into account the developmental differences between youth and adults and allow for post-sentence review for youth facing juvenile life without parole or other sentencing reform for youth sentenced as adults, according to a new report from the Campaign for Youth Justice.