By Karen Heller
That Friday night in February, Joe Ligon went drinking.
He tore through the neighborhood, South Philadelphia, with five other teenagers looking for money to buy wine. One boy carried two switchblades.
Something went wrong. By night’s end, eight men had been knifed. There’s no question Ligon was involved. He admits stabbing Clarence Belvey. Two men, Charles Pitts and Jackson Hamm, died before midnight.
Ligon was 15.
By Milton J. Valencia
Citing her legal limitations, a Superior Court judge refused yesterday to alter the conviction of John Odgren, the mentally troubled teenager who was sentenced in April to life in prison for killing a fellow high school student three years ago.
But the controversy over the teen’s sentencing may not be over.
By Bob Walsh
“A Palm Springs gangbanger who was 17 at the time of the murder of a former Marine was sentenced to life without parole for murder…”
By Bob Egelko
After the Legislature killed a Bay Area lawmaker’s bill to give juveniles serving life sentences a chance at future parole, a state appeals court took a step in the other direction Wednesday by overturning the 84-year prison term of a 16-year-old gang member convicted of robbery and carjacking.
By Luisa Taveras
Dana Kaplan is executive director of Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, a grantee of the Open Society Foundations. She spoke with me about her work.
The Fair Sentencing for Youth Act, written by state Sen. Leland Yee (D- San Francisco), would allow courts to review the cases of juveniles sentenced to life without parole after they have served 10 years and allow some to be resentenced to 25 years to life. Already passed by the Senate, the bill is scheduled to be taken up by the Assembly on Thursday. We strongly urge lawmakers to pass it.
By the Union-Tribune Editorial Board
It is easy to understand the pain, anguish and desire for justice of people who have suffered the loss of a loved one to violent crime. But justice is not always easy to define.
Virtually all first-degree murders are vicious and senseless, almost by definition. A sentence of life without the possibility of ever even being considered for parole is often the correct definition of justice.
But what if the killer was under 18 – a child under the law?
By Gregory K. Fritz
Last May, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that sentencing juveniles (below 18 years old) who have not killed anyone to life without the possibility of parole violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment, and was thus unconstitutional.
My reaction was to heave a sigh of relief and wonder why it took so long. I believe there is no issue that child mental-health professionals agree on more: Children and adolescents are not adults and should be treated — including by the justice system — in a developmentally appropriate way.
Editorial
The Supreme Court ruling in May that juveniles jailed for life should have a chance for parole is unlikely to change attitudes for those who believe teens convicted of brutal crimes should be locked up and the key thrown away.
That much should be apparent during testimony Wednesday at a Pennsylvania House hearing scheduled in Philadelphia, where the House Judiciary Committee will consider legislation in response to the high-court ruling.
After spending four years behind bars for capital murder, a now 19-year-old man could be getting a new trial thanks to a ruling from the court of appeals.
Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (EIN 27-3761788) is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization