Public defender’s division challenges juvenile sentences

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BALTIMORE (AP) — The Maryland Office of the Public Defender’s post-conviction division has adopted a strategy to help ensure juveniles convicted of crimes and serving life sentences without the possibility of parole are resentenced following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that such punishments are cruel and unusual.

Under the division’s new Youth-Resentencing Project, attorneys will investigate all life-without-parole cases to determine if the crime occurred before the convict reached age 18 and examine other cases involving juvenile offenders serving long sentences short of life without parole, said division chief Becky Feldman.

“We are looking at what if anything we can do to get them in court, to get them resentenced,” she added.

The project’s launch was spurred by the high court’s 2012 Miller v. Alabama decision that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles violate the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

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By STEVE LASH September 15, 2015

Juvenile Justice System Failing Native Americans, Studies Show

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State courts are twice as likely to incarcerate Native teens for minor crimes such as truancy and alcohol use than any other racial and ethnic group, according to the Tribal Law and Policy Institute. And juvenile detention facilities around the country have a disproportionately high number of Native American youth, according to an Indian Law and Order Commission report.

On the reservation, it’s different.

On a recent visit to the Navajo Nation juvenile detention center in Tuba City, it’s quiet. “Right now we don’t have anybody in custody,” says Sgt. Barbara Johnson.

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By: Laurel Morales July 31, 2015

Sept. 20 interfaith prayer service in Philadelphia will honor Pope Francis, juvenile lifers, victims and families

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Please join us on in Philadelphia on September 20 for an interfaith prayer service that will honor the lives of people sentenced to life without parole for crimes committed as children, their victims, and the families of both. Additionally, we will thank Pope Francis for his support for reform.

The Pope will visit Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New York this month.  While in Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families, the Pontiff plans to visit the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center. In honor of the Pope’s visit, a special grotto was crafted at the Basilica Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia as “a ritual-based gathering site to foster hope, spirituality, and collective action.” The church is located at 1723 Race St. in Philadelphia

The Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth and the Pennsylvania Coalition for the Fair Sentencing of Youth have partnered with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society, the United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries,  the Catholic social justice lobby NETWORK, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, and the Hunger and Homelessness Coalition of the World Meeting of Families to co-host this special interfaith prayer service at the grotto on September 20th at 2 p.m.

Please share this invitation with your friends and family members on Facebook and Twitter, or download to print or attach to an email.

Interfaith Prayer Service, 9-20-15

 

Which states ban life without parole for children?

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 Download pdf of map here

Pope Francis Honored As 'Abolitionist Of The Year'

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ROME (AP) – An Italian anti-death penalty group has honored Pope Francis with the prize “Abolitionist of the Year” for his strong position against the death penalty and other forms of “inhumane and degrading” punishments.

“Hands off Cain” on Friday cited Francis’ moves to remove from the Vatican criminal code life sentences, which he called “a death penalty in disguise.” The pope has frequently lashed out against the death penalty, calling it “inadmissible” no matter the offense.

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By Associated Press 7/31/2015

Killing Them Softly: The Juvenile Justice System Is Complicit in Lost Lives

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Kenneth Young may never see the inside of the U.S. Capitol.

But lawmakers on the Hill are using his story to make a push for more humane sentencing of child offenders. Right now, the United States is the only country in the world that sentences children to life, followed inevitably by death, in prison without parole.

That’s what happened to Young.

In the early summer of 2000, the then-14-year-old accompanied his mother’s 24-year-old crack dealer on a series of nonlethal armed robberies in Tampa. At 15, Young was tried as an adult and sentenced to four consecutive life terms.

More than 2,500 children, disproportionately young men of color, are serving similar life sentences.

But now there is a push by lawmakers on Capitol Hill, backed by scientists and childhood experts, to recognize the fact that children are different. They argue that children’s brains are not fully developed and they do not yet possess the impulse control or judgment skills of adults.

Leading the charge are lawmakers like Rep. Tony Cardenas, a California Democrat and the first person of color to serve his Latino-heavy San Fernando Valley district, who has championed criminal-justice reform.

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By Emily Deruy July 31, 2015

Youth Advocates Using Documentary to Sway Public Opinion on JLWOP

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WASHINGTON — Last year, documentary audiences first met Kenneth Young, a man sentenced to life in prison in Florida for crimes he committed as a young teenager.

A year later, advocates still are spreading his story, hoping it will help end sentences of juvenile life without parole in communities across the country.

The engagement campaign around the film, “15 to Life: Kenneth’s Story,” is a way to change culture, not just laws, supporters said at a screening of the film on Monday.

The film follows the legal fight of Young, who was sentenced to four consecutive terms of life without the possibility of parole for his role in a series of armed robberies when he was 14 and 15 years old.

The filmmakers have teamed with the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth to host dozens of community screenings and panel discussions that explore the question of juvenile life without parole, using Young’s story as a jumping-off point.

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By Sarah Barr 7/28/2015

Congressman Cardenas introduces resolution to end JLWOP

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Congressman Tony Cardenas (D-CA), has called for an end to the practice of sentencing children to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Congressman Cardenas introduced a resolution in the U.S. House of Representative on July 27 calling for the change. Later that evening, Congressman Cardenas was the special guest and facilitator for a film and panel discussion hosted by the CFSY at the U.S. Capitol Visitor’s Center. The CFSY and people directly impacted by these sentencing practices also were on the panel. Hundreds of people participated in the event in D.C. and in four other cities — Chicago, Miami, New Orleans and Philadelphia.

Read an op-ed from the Congressman about the issue. It was published in CQ Roll Call.

 

Calif. Congressman Tony Cárdenas – Resolution: Stop Locking Kids In Cages to Die

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SAN FERNANDO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Today, U.S. Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-San Fernando Valley, Calif.) introduced a Congressional Resolution, calling on the United States to completely eliminate life sentences without the possibility of parole in juvenile cases.

The resolution is a legislative companion to an opinion column authored by Cárdenas that will be published in this Thursday’s Roll Call and to a panel Cárdenas will moderate this evening following a viewing of “15 to Life,” a film that discusses the use of life sentences for children in the United States.

The resolution notes that more than 2,500 children have been sentenced to die in prison for crimes they have committed.

The United States remains the only country in the world that allows life sentences without the possibility of parole.

“We are a nation built on second chances, and on the potential of human life,” said Cárdenas. “Yet, when it comes to our children, we have decided to be as punitive and destructive as possible.

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By Christopher Simmons 7/27/2015

‘Children Do Not Have the Same Capacity as Adults to Control Their Reactions.’

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“Children do not have the same capacity as adults to control their reactions.”

“As a former juvenile court judge and a parent of three young adult children, I have seen firsthand what adolescent brain research has confirmed: children do not have the same capacity as adults to control their reactions, think through the long-term consequences of their behaviors or avoid pressure from peers and adults. We know that most children grow out of any propensity for illegality by the time they reach their late 20s. Accordingly, we do not need lengthy sentences such as life (with or without parole) to protect public safety.”

— Gail Garinger, Child Advocate for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in response to What’s Justice for Kids Who Kill?

“Prisons do bad things to all people who occupy them.”

“Dana Goldstein’s assessment of the literature on prison guards neglected to consider some recent research that links prison guards’ perceptions about the people under their care and their jobs in the context of a broader socio-political landscape…In an evaluation of prisons in England, for example, researchers from the University of Cambridge found that staff perceptions of safety — or the lack of it — were related less to actual levels of violence than to staff members’ trust in senior management and their confidence in their job…Prisons do bad things to all people who occupy them.”

— Alexandra Cox, sociology professor at SUNY New Paltz, in response toWhat Are Corrections Officers So Afraid Of?

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By Jasmine Lee 7/24/2015