New hope of freedom for those given mandatory life sentences as juveniles

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Today, the Chicago Tribune published a comprehensive and thoughtful article covering the resentencing hearings in Illinois following the Supreme Court decisions in Miller and Montgomery. The article, featuring our very own Legal Director Heather Renwick, discusses the lives of two individuals resentenced after receiving life-without-parole as a child. Their stories exemplify children’s unique capacity for change and that no child should have their lives defined by their worst mistake.

“‘I think there’s a growing recognition that children are different and that given the opportunity to grow and change, individuals who commit crimes as children can still contribute in significant and positive ways to the community if given a chance,’ said Heather Renwick, legal director of The Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that aims to end sentences of life without parole for juveniles.”

 

In Memoriam

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In the past several months, our community lost three beloved individuals: Grace Warren, Timothy “TJ” Spytma, and Glen Mitchell. Each of them represented the power and strength of our community. The Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth sends our condolences to the friends and families of these three passionate advocates for youth justice and dedicate our advocacy this year to their memory.

The Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth would like to thank the friends and family of TJ Spytma who have graciously donated to our efforts in his honor. 

“Grace, I thank you for making me a stronger, better advocate for justice. But I am most grateful for the model you set for me, and all who knew you, of how to serve as an unconditionally loving, devoted mother.” – Jody Kent Lavy

“After serving four decades in prison TJ Spytma became a free man in 2014. In the past two years, since his release, he had been an asset to his community; a wonderful family member and friend to those in his life; and an ICAN member who had an extraordinary voice for children serving extreme sentences in the American criminal justice system. Rest in peace TJ.” – Xavier McElrath Bey
“Glen Mitchell personified grace, mercy and forgiveness. One of my most treasured and humbling experiences is when I interviewed him at length alongside Ellis Curry. Glen demonstrated warmth and genuine care for Ellis. He had no desire for retribution. His focus then and whenever I spoke with him was on creating a better world. Glen was a class act and a true warrior in our movement. He will be greatly missed.” – James Ross

Healing and Hope 2016

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November 15th | Jones Day | Washington, D.C.

This year’s Healing and Hope was an incredible evening. Our wonderful honorees left all in attendance with a sense of inspiration and hope for the future. We look forward to seeing you all next year!

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Highlights of the 2016 Convening

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“It was a blessing to be invited to the Convening and to meet so many people committed to this work. I plan to stay involved with this group of people until we bring about the change we all so desperately desire. I never imagined that the simple act of forgiveness would lead me to the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth and new friends of like minds who will last a lifetime. May we all be blessed along the journey.” – Lynette Grace

Last month, we hosted our most widely attended annual national convening to date in Washington, DC. We gathered together an incredibly diverse field of over 125 participants from 28 states to share strategies, build new relationships, and strengthen our movement to end life without parole for children. We were joined by parole board members, state legislators, former law enforcement officials, litigators, formerly incarcerated individuals, family members of loved ones serving life sentences, and family members of victims to youth violence. The conversations were sobering, emotional, empowering, inspiring, productive. Where else would a parole board chair, the president of a correctional association, and a recently paroled individual speak on the same panel? The convening provided a unique opportunity to utilize the diverse experiences in the room to inform our strategies going into 2017.

“The convening energizes me to do the work of abolishing life without parole for children. Being with the other family members and the staff of CFSY, along with the beautiful men and women who have grown up in prison and turned their lives around, is like being bathed in love for several days. It means the world to me.” – Linda White, loved one is a victim of a crime committed by a child. 

Our convening opened just one week following one of the most divisive presidential elections in history, so it was particularly appropriate that we began with a plenary on harm, healing, and hope. The panel featured the personal journeys toward forgiveness two parents who both lost loved ones to youth violence have taken, as well as the experiences of remorse and hope from three formerly incarcerated individuals. These presentations are what make the Convening such an invaluable experience. Each of our workshops and plenaries blended professional experience with personal testimonies that grounded our discussions in the context of the people whose lives are directly impacted by youth violence and the extreme sentencing of children.

“I am grateful that the Campaign invited me to take part in this year’s convening. I value the visits we made to Congressional offices and the opportunity I was given to serve on a panel and share my knowledge of the parole process. Nonetheless, the greatest gift of this convening was being able to spend time with others who, like me, were once serving JLWOP and were afforded a second chance. Each one of these individuals is a shining example that no child is born bad and so many of us have unlimited potential waiting to be realized. We shared our experiences and success with each other, and we look forward to supporting one another moving forward.” – Andrew Hundley, sentenced to life without parole as a teen and released as a result of the Supreme Court decisions in Miller and Montgomery. 

Our conversations ranged from technical discussions about parole to prioritizing racial justice and utilizing social media to strengthen advocacy campaigns. Our discussions were led by renowned figures in their respective fields – such as Steven Drizin, co-founder of the Center on the Wrongful Convictions of Youth, and Sheryl Ranatza, the Chairperson of the Louisiana Parole Board – as well as by individuals directly impacted by the extreme sentencing of youth.

“Being a part of the national convening each year is extremely important to me. It strengthens my resolve and reminds me that we have made tremendous progress. This year I was especially encouraged by the large constantly growing group of formerly incarcerated youth that have returned home and have become a part of  theCFSY family, dedicating their lives to eliminating JLWOP. They are the ultimate proof that no child is born bad and no child is beyond redemption and rehabilitation.” – Anita Colon, sister of someone serving life without parole in Pennsylvania. 

I am deeply grateful to all who traveled to be with us, those who shared their ideas, and most especially, those who shared their personal stories. We left energized, enlightened, and excited about doubling down our efforts to end extreme sentences for children. Together, we will end the practice of sentencing our children to die in prison. Onward! Jody Kent Lavy Executive Director The Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth

They Call Us Monsters Viewing at the Capitol

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Join the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, The National Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Coalition, and special guest Congressman Tony Cardenas (D-CA) for a viewing of Ben Lear’s searing but sensitive documentary, “They Call Us Monsters”. The film chronicles the lives of three young men given extreme sentences for crimes they were convicted of as juveniles. A debate within the California State Senate over a bill that would allow juvenile offenders to be paroled after 15 years serves as the film’s backdrop. The film shows the State Senate’s struggle with the bill, weighing public safety and serious criminal activity over scientific studies that show children are different than adults — they’re more emotional, compulsive, and risk-taking.

We hope you can join us for a great film and discussion.

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CFSY joins Changing Minds Campaign kickoff at White House

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On Wednesday, October 19th, CFSY Youth Justice Advocate Xavier McElrath-Bey and Executive Director Jody Kent Lavy joined Futures Without Violence, the Defending Childhood Initiative, the U.S Department of Justice, and many of our nation’s leaders at the White House to launch the Changing Minds Campaign—a national movement to address the needs of children who are impacted by violence and trauma.

We are grateful for the opportunity to share our efforts to end life without parole for children and why “no child is born bad,” to remind others that most people who were given extreme prison sentences in childhood were also once victims of violence and trauma and that our responsibility to our children should not end the moment they make a horrible decision or mistake. We should never give up and always strive to ensure healing and a second chance.

October is Youth Justice Awareness Month!

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October has been Youth Justice Awareness Month (YJAM) since 2008. During YJAM, people across the country have organized events that have helped to raise awareness, strengthen coalitions, and build campaigns to keep children out of the adult criminal justice system. For the second straight year, President Obama has formalized October as Youth Justice Awareness Month with a Presidential Proclamation.

Throughout October, the CFSY will run a series of blogs and social media posts highlighting YJAM, our work within broader juvenile justice advocacy, and our conviction that “no child is born bad”. Stay tuned to this page for updates as they come!

October 6: Kicking off our YJAM blog series with commentary from CFSY Executive Director Jody Kent Lavy

October is Youth Justice Awareness Month – as proclaimed by President Obama — and we are celebrating and honoring all of the hard work of community leaders, advocates, coalition builders, legislative champions, judicial officials, defenders, and directly impacted individuals who seek to ensure that our country holds children accountable in age-appropriate ways that account for their experiences with trauma and their capacity to grow and change.

Our partners at the Campaign for Youth Justice started Youth Justice Awareness Month in 2008 to draw attention to the need to end the prosecution of youth in the adult criminal justice system. As awareness has grown, so have opportunities to create change, so the founders have decided to focus this year and in the future on transforming awareness into action. We are thrilled to join them in their efforts.

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October 13: Redeemed Juveniles Like Me Are Not the Exception from CFSY Youth Justice Advocate Xavier McElrath-Bey

Today is special for me for several reasons.

For starters, I will have the honor of spending much of the day in a symposium at San Quentin State Prison in California. I especially look forward to sharing time with the members of KID C.A.T. (Creating Awareness Together), a group of individuals who were sentenced to life without parole when they were children. After years of incarceration, they created their own support group with a mission to organize acts of community service and goodwill.

During my first two visits to San Quentin earlier this year, I learned about the group’s  past activities, which have included conducting food and hygiene product drives for the homeless, fundraising to sponsor youth involvement in community programs, raising awareness and money for cancer research, and folding hundreds of origami hearts for kids at Oakland’s Children’s Hospital. All these activities took place behind the walls of San Quentin and were facilitated by people once considered to be heartless, remorseless monsters as a result of the now-disproven “superpredator theory.”

I am not surprised by their efforts. I recognize that their actions are the reflections of an eternal apology that I, too, am living out. Fourteen years ago today, at age 26, I walked out of the prison gates with a remorseful heart and a mission to advocate on behalf of children who are exposed to violence and the justice system. After pleading guilty to murder, I had been incarcerated half of my life.

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October is Youth Justice Awareness Month

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October is Youth Justice Awareness Month – as proclaimed by President Obama — and we are celebrating and honoring all of the hard work of community leaders, advocates, coalition builders, legislative champions, judicial officials, defenders, and directly impacted individuals who seek to ensure that our country holds children accountable in age-appropriate ways that account for their experiences with trauma and their capacity to grow and change.

Our partners at the Campaign for Youth Justice started Youth Justice Awareness Month in 2008 to draw attention to the need to end the prosecution of youth in the adult criminal justice system. As awareness has grown, so have opportunities to create change, so the founders have decided to focus this year and in the future on transforming awareness into action. We are thrilled to join them in their efforts.

Despite the ongoing efforts of advocates, litigators and others throughout the county, children are still prosecuted as adults, and often are sentenced to life without parole and other extreme punishments. When we sentence children to die in prison, we ignore what adolescent brain science tells us and how that has impacted several recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court:  Children are different from adults, both physically and developmentally. Children are less able to think through the long-term consequences of their actions, control their impulses or avoid pressure from peers or adults. Because they are still developing, they also possess a unique capacity to grow and change. In fact, we know that most children grow out of illegal behaviors by the time they reach their late 20s.

Thankfully, we are moving toward a justice system that less punitive in its dealings with children. In the last decade, the U.S. Supreme Court has significantly scaled back the use of the most extreme sentences for children, and has required opportunities for review for everyone sentenced as a child to a mandatory life-without-parole sentence. The Court also has said that these death-in-prison sentences are appropriate only when it can be proven that a child is irredeemable.

In addition, 17 states now ban these sentences for children. This includes both traditionally conservative states such as West Virginia and Nevada as well as traditionally liberal states such as Hawaii and Massachusetts.

Yet, our work is not done. We must ensure that all of these court and policy decisions are implemented in meaningful ways to provide everyone serving one of these sentences with a reasonable opportunity for release.

Throughout October, we will share commentaries of directly impacted individuals. We hope that you will be moved and inspired by their testimonies.

Thank you for your partnership as we work to ensure that no child is ever condemned to die in prison and all children are given a second chance.