News

By Rebecca Weiker

A few months ago, I spent the day meeting with a group of family members who have had their lives changed forever by acts of violence. Nobody there would have chosen to be a member of this group — all of us had either lost a loved one to murder, or had lost a loved one in an entirely different way.  Many brothers, sisters, sons and daughters were sentenced to die in prison for a crime committed in their youth.

My sister Wendy was a therapist who was passionate about supporting young people with mental health problems.  Almost 20 years ago she was murdered by one of her patients.  All these years later, I only now am at a place where I can consider this crime from a position of empathy.  I understand that I can choose what meaning to make of this experience.

I will never “get over” her death nor do I expect to shed the feeling of loss and deep sadness that comes from not having her in the world. She was truly a bright light in the world. She was my big sister and I looked up to her. I admired her commitment to justice, her warmth, her seemingly endless energy.

Click here to the full article on the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange website.

Letters to the Editor by Oya Llansa Sherrills & Rebecca Weiker, Sacramento Bee

Young people can change

Re “Bill that would allow resentencing in heinous juvenile crimes is flawed” (Viewpoints, Aug. 20): Margaret Bengs’ column made me wonder – how long will we accept California’s willingness to leave children to die in prison? My brother was senselessly murdered at 18 by another youth. Nothing will fill the void.

However, my brother’s murder should not be used to justify the perpetual imprisonment of youths – especially not the disproportionate number of black and brown youths sentenced to life without parole in California.

By Michelle Newell

We are all better than the worst things we have done—and this is especially true of children. A bill that will be reconsidered in the California Assembly this week would create the hope, not a guarantee, of a second chance for youth who are sentenced to life without parole.

When he was just 16-years-old – too young for prom, two years shy of voting age, and just barely old enough to drive – Jay, under the influence of five adults, was involved in a fatal gang shooting. He was sentenced to life without parole and has been in prison for almost 18 years. In prison, Jay felt pressured to stay involved in gangs, and had every reason to be hopeless about the future; however, in his mid-twenties he rejected that life determined to “avoid bad influences” and to become a better person.

Jay states, “I have spent long periods of time reflecting on my past actions and on myself. Each moment of my life in here I am thankful to be alive.” Speaking of the pain caused to others by his actions, he says, “I can’t imagine losing someone like that… like a son. It’s like you have lost your own life in a way.”

Jay believes he has changed immensely, insisting that “the person I was before, I know I am not him anymore.” Realizing that “education is the most important thing,” he has earned his GED, and now spends much of his time in prison reading and meditating. Jay has stayed on this course of self-improvement without the slightest hope that he will be given a second chance. He knows he will die in prison for a crime he committed as a teenager because state law does not currently permit him or anyone like him to ever rejoin society regardless of the course his life takes.

California Assembly members have a second chance to change this by voting yes on SB 9 – the Fair Sentencing for Youth Act that fell one vote shy of passing two weeks ago – and give young offenders like Jay hope of a second chance in life with the possibility of parole.

Read more on the Children’s Defense Fund Site

A federal judge today allowed an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit challenging Michigan’s juvenile life without parole sentences to proceed. Today’s ruling allows the ACLU and the ACLU of Michigan to prove that Michigan’s sentencing scheme, which denies children a meaningful opportunity for parole, constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and violates their constitutional rights.

In his 13-page decision, U.S. District Court Judge John Corbett O’Meara allowed one of the plaintiffs, Keith Maxey, to continue with the case. Citing the three-year statute of limitations, he ruled that the other 12 clients waited too long to challenge their sentences. Maxey was 16 in 2007 when he was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for his part in a robbery. Michigan law requires that children as young as 14 who are charged with certain felonies be tried as adults and, if convicted of a homicide offense, sentenced without judicial discretion to life without parole.

Learn more at the ACLU

“In Louisiana, advocates are pushing to reform the state’s sentencing laws, especially those that allow juveniles to be put in prison for life.  Criminal justice advocates, family members of prisoners, and religious leaders say the state’s burgeoning prison population — one of the highest in the world — is due to these harsh sentencing laws.”

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