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Texas Governor Rick Perry has signed into law Senate Bill 2, which removes life without the possibility of parole as a sentencing option for children. Although the new law is a step forward, it does not go far enough in acknowledging the fundamental difference between children and adults and children’s unique capacity for change and rehabilitation.

The law is the state’s effort to comply with last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Miller v. Alabama, which found that mandatory sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole are unconstitutional when imposed upon a person who was younger than 18 at the time a crime was committed. Texas eliminated the sentences in 2005 for children who were 16 or younger at the time of a crime, but 17-year-olds were not impacted by the change because 17 is the age of adult jurisdiction in Texas. Under the new law, no one younger than 18 can be sentenced to die in prison.

Under SB2, children convicted of serious crimes in Texas will become eligible for parole after serving a minimum of 40 years. In this way, the new law exchanges one mandatory sentence for another because it does not allow for the individualized sentencing hearings outlined in Miller. According to Miller, key mitigating factors should be considered at sentencing, such as the child’s age, role in the crime, history of abuse and neglect and coercion by an adult co-defendant.

Texas Senator Jose Rodriguez, a former prosecutor for El Paso County, voted against the legislation, which was passed during the second special session of the summer after it failed during the first. Rodriguez said judges and juries should have more flexibility to consider individual circumstances and that children should not be treated the same as adults.

“Juveniles offenders, because of their brain development and other factors are different from other offenders,” he said. The senator also expressed concerns about documented racial disparities that show that blacks and Hispanics receive harsher penalties than whites for the same crimes.

Lawyers for children in Texas have indicated that they plan to challenge the new law.

In this commentary in the Huffington Post, Xavier McElrath Bey writes about being sentenced to prison as a young teen and his path to change. He exemplifies what research has demonstrated: young people are uniquely capable of change and rehabilitation. The CFSY supports accountability measures that hold young people accountable for their crimes while focusing on rehabilitation and reintegration into society.

By Xavier McElrath-Bey

I had already spent time in the juvenile detention center on seven different occasions. Yet at such a young age, I didn’t fully understand the ramifications of what had occurred; nor did I understand how so many lives — including my own — would be devastated because of my actions. I did not think the victim would die and I was not the actual killer, so I never imagined that I would face a long prison term. Only when I was transferred to adult court and spoke to my defense lawyer did I understand that I would likely spend decades in prison. I eventually plead guilty in order to avoid the 40-year sentence the state sought.

Because I was so focused on the daily routine of survival in an aggressive environment, I didn’t have many opportunities to reflect upon my life or even imagine a better future. It wasn’t until I was 18 and in solitary confinement at Pontiac Correctional Center in Illinois that I realized how destructive and wrong I had been. I thought about all the people I had hurt; I thought about his family and the pain I had caused them and most of all I wished I had the power to go back in time and save his life. Overwhelmed with remorse and regret, and with my growing sense of disillusionment with the gang life in which I was involved, I began to think about the root causes of my childhood decisions.

I realize that I — like so many misled youth — had been perfectly socialized into being a gang member. My childhood traumas of living in poverty, having a mother diagnosed with mental illness, living in fear of an abusive step-father, and being placed in and out of foster care made me ripe for the occasions of impulsive and destructive behavior — especially gang involvement which gave me the sense of having a new family.

This week we mark the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Miller v. Alabama that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for youth are unconstitutional due to the categorical differences between children and adults. Youth must be held accountable when they cause harm to others, and especially when a life is taken.

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This article profiles Deb LaBelle, an attorney in Michigan and leader in the effort to eliminate sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole for children. She also is a board member at the CFSY.

By David Ashenfelter | Bridge Magazine
on June 18, 2013 at 8:36 AM, updated June 18, 2013 at 8:40 AM
It began as a favor to a dying friend.

But Deborah LaBelle’s decision in 1985 to take over a federal lawsuit at the request of attorney Judith Magid has since evolved into a 28-year legal crusade that has improved the quality of life of Michigan prison inmates, cost the state $150 million for violating their rights and made LaBelle one of the nation’s top prisoner advocates.

“I thought I’d be filing one or two legal briefs and making a couple of court appearances to wrap up the case,” LaBelle said during a recent interview in her Ann Arbor law office, which she often shares with Koda, her son’s large chocolate poodle.

She said Magid, who spent eight years on the case before developing terminal cancer, had already persuaded a judge to order the Michigan Department of Corrections to provide female prisoners with the same educational and vocational opportunities as male inmates. But it took LaBelle 11 more years to get the job done.

“They fought us every step of the way,” LaBelle said.

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From the Associated Press

Gov. Dave Heineman on Wednesday signed a measure overhauling the state’s juvenile justice system, saying it will reduce Nebraska’s reliance on detention programs and place a new focus on rehabilitation and family involvement.

The measure by Sen. Brad Ashford, of Omaha, includes $14.5 million for juvenile services and a grant program to help counties treat young criminal offenders.