Thank you so much for reaching out to the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth. You are receiving this email because you indicated that you have a family member or loved one who is currently serving a lengthy sentence. From all of us here at the CFSY, please know that we are standing with you and your loved one in solidarity as we fight to end extreme sentencing of children.
The CFSY is an advocacy organization, which means that we work to eliminate life without parole and other extreme sentences for kids through legislative reform on the state and federal level. The CFSY is not able to provide direct legal representation or assistance.
We want you to get answers to your questions and/or the help that you need, so we’ve provided a few suggestions below that might be helpful to you:
If your loved one has an attorney…
- It is always best to direct your questions to the attorney first, and then have them reach out to our legal team if necessary. Your attorney will likely be able to answer most questions for you, and we want to be sure not to interfere with the attorney/client relationship.
- Our Trial Defense Guidelines, might be a helpful tool for your loved one’s attorney. This resource can be found on our website. We also have a resource kit that your attorney can access by reaching out to a member of our legal team.
If your loved one does not have an attorney…
- We recently launched a Parole Preparation Toolkit that is designed to help individuals who are preparing for review without the assistance of an attorney. This resource can also be found on our website.
- If you are seeking pro bono representation, you may want to reach out to the public defenders office in your state, or your local ACLU.
- If your loved one has an innocence claim, you may want to reach out to the Innocence Project in your state/region.
National Family Network
The National Family Network (NFN) is a community of friends and family members of people impacted by youth violence. This includes individuals whose loved ones are serving lengthy sentences for crimes committed as children, as well as individuals who have lost loved ones to youth violence.
In addition to serving as a community of support, the NFN serves as a strong, family-run advocacy base. The NFN engages in dialogue, action planning, and information sharing to advance efforts to end the practice of sentencing youth to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
If you think you might be interested in becoming a part of this community, please fill out the National Family Network Interest Form and email Crystal Carpenter at [email protected].
We apologize again for not being able to get back to you right away. If we believe we can be of assistance in any way, we will be sure to contact you as soon as we can. Again, all of us at the CFSY are standing with you, and we will continue fighting for more just and age appropriate sentences for kids.
