People told as youth that they would die in prison are coming home
Dear friends,
Every week lately, I receive an email, text message or phone call with news of the release of someone told as a child that he or she would die in prison. These individuals and hundreds more have been granted a second chance at life because of recent reforms by state lawmakers and the U.S. Supreme Court, which have reduced and abolished life sentences for children. We are deeply heartened to welcome home those who have served their debts to society and maintained hope of one day reuniting with their families and communities.
And there is more work to be done to ensure that everyone serving one of these unconstitutional sentences has a meaningful opportunity for release. We must make certain that Montgomery v. Louisiana, which made retroactive the Supreme Court’s 2012 ban on mandatory life-without-parole sentences for children, is appropriately implemented. With this as a priority, the Campaign recently hired a new Montgomery Implementation Coordinator. We have been working with advocates in states most impacted by the ruling and fostering engagement with pro-bono attorneys who can represent individuals at resentencing and in parole hearings. We also are beginning to develop relationships with parole board officials who will hear and consider these re-sentencing cases.
At the same time, we continue to work with elected officials, demonstrating the wisdom of holding children accountable in more age-appropriate ways. These reforms are experiencing broad, bi-partisan support. Currently, the Comprehensive Youth Justice Amendment Act of 2016 is advancing before the D.C. Council. The bill would ban life without parole sentences for children and provide for sentencing review opportunities. It has broad support and the Judiciary Committee is expected to vote it in early October. As part of our advocacy efforts in support of its passage, the Campaign organized family members of people who would be impacted by the bill to testify in favor of it alongside us.
Yet, we are aware that much work remains. Some states, such as Virginia, are going to extreme measures to avoid following the spirit and letter of the Montgomery decision. This month, pro-bono lawyers with whom we partner argued before the Fourth Circuit Court and the Virginia Supreme Court that the state must abide by this ruling from the country’s highest court.
The battles will continue, but we are winning. We are grateful for your partnership and look forward to our journey together as we ensure that no child is ever condemned to die in prison.
Onward,
Jody Kent Lavy
Executive Director
Executive Director
Three new staff members join the CFSY
Megan Buchanan is the new program assistant at the Campaign. Megan is originally from Los Angeles, California, and attended college at American University in Washington, D.C. where she majored in international studies.
She previously worked at the D.C. Center for the LGBT Community as a development intern, and more recently as an intern at the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. As the Campaign’s program assistant, Megan will engage volunteers and donors, plan and execute events, and help further the Campaign’s advocacy efforts. In her free time, Megan enjoys dancing and rollerblading.
Rebecca Turner has joined the Campaign as the Montgomery implementation coordinator. In this role, she coordinates pro bono engagement for resentencings following the Miller v. Alabama and Montgomery v. Louisiana U.S Supreme Court rulings, tracks the outcomes of resentencings, and serves as a liaison with law firms across the country. She also works with state litigation partners in order to help ensure that the Montgomery ruling is being meaningfully implemented.
Rebecca is a graduate of Florida State University and the University of Virginia School of Law. As a law student, she worked on habeas corpus petitions for death penalty inmates in California, and participated in the Innocence Project clinic at the University of Virginia. After graduation, she was a fellow at the Prisoners’ Rights Project of the Washington Lawyer’s Committee. Immediately before joining the Campaign, Rebecca worked at the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault, where she helped to implement the Prison Rape Elimination Act in Maryland prisons. Rebecca is a self-professed television and movie buff. She also enjoys cooking new and interesting foods and reading in her spare time.
Greg Hamilton is our new outreach coordinator. In this position, Greg works with individuals directly impacted by sentences of life without parole as children.
Greg communicates frequently with people who are currently serving these sentences and serves as the staff coordinator with the National Family Network, a national network of family members whose loved ones are serving life without parole for crimes committed as youth. He also helps to coordinate events and leads special projects as assigned.
Greg recently graduated from St. Michael’s College in Burlington, Vermont, where he majored in chemistry and engaged in international advocacy work with the Student Global AIDS Campaign. He will be at the CFSY for one year as a participant in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. Greg enjoys biking, skiing and snowboarding.
New CFSY's report highlights recent momentum for reform
The Campaign’s new publication, Righting Wrongs: The Five-Year Groundswell of State Bans on Life Without Parole for Children, highlights keys to recent reforms that have advanced the national trend of banning these extreme sentences for children.
The publication features the successes enabled by partners and supporters like you in states across the country. It also shares the stories of individuals who grew up in prison who are now members of the Incarcerated Children’s Advocacy Network (ICAN) as well as the experiences of other key stakeholders and individuals whose lives have been impacted by these reforms. It has a particular focus on the bipartisan nature of our legislative successes.
The report is accompanied by a letter from former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson, urging policymakers in other states to join his state of Utah and others in banning life-without-parole sentences for children.
“Before I served our great nation, I too was a juvenile offender who committed serious crimes, risking my own life and the lives of others,” Simpson wrote. “With minor changes in the facts of the crime, I could have spent years-or perhaps my entire life-in the clink. I am living proof that youth possess a unique capacity to grow and change. The child who seems helpless today could go on and change the world. That’s why I strongly support the work of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth which is actively working to end the practice of sentencing children to die in prison.”
The New York Times also quoted the publication in an op-ed calling on Michigan prosecutors to ensure that people eligible for relief as a result of January’s Montgomery v. Louisiana decision have reasonable opportunities for release, as the U.S. Supreme Court mandated in the ruling.
This is the first major publication produced by the Campaign. We anticipate that it will be a key educational tool as we and our partners continue the national trend of rejecting these extreme sentences for children. To date, 17 states ban life-without-parole sentences for children, and five others ban the sentences under most circumstances.
Read U.S. Senator Alan Simpson’s letter
Read “Michigan Prosecutors Defy the Supreme Court” in The New York Times
Read “Bar Bulletin: New report highlights trend against life sentences for children” in The Daily Record
Crime victims overwhelmingly believe justice system relies too heavily on incarceration
A new report, Crime Survivors Speak: The First-Ever National Survey of Victim’s Views on Safety and Justice, reveals that victims of violent crimes overwhelmingly believe incarceration plays too large a role in the justice system.
The report from the Alliance for Safety and Justice builds on the first-of-its-kind National Survey for Victims Views, which reveals that the opinions and desires of victims of crime are often out of line with media portrayals. Notably, crime victims by a margin of three-to-one believe that prison is more likely to make people commit further crimes rather than rehabilitate them.
Former Senator Alan Simpson urges states to ban life without parole for children
In tandem with the CFSY’s Monday release of Righting Wrongs: The Five-Year Groundswell of State Bans on Life Without Parole for Children, former U.S. Senator Alan K. Simpson, (R-WY), writes a moving letter calling on the United States to end life-without-parole sentences for children. Currently 17 states ban the sentence, more than triple the number that did so just five years ago.
Senator Simpson urges policymakers in other states to join our growing movement after Wyoming eliminated life-without-parole sentences for children in 2013, and we are grateful to Senator Simpson for his continued involved in our advocacy efforts.
Read Senator Simpson’s letter, The Better Angels of Our Nature, at this link.
States that ban life without parole for children triple in five years
The number of states that ban sentences of life in prison without parole for children ages 17 and younger has more than tripled in the last five years, and traditionally conservative states are leading the way, according to Righting Wrongs: The Five-Year Groundswell of State Bans on Life Without Parole for Children, a report released today by the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (CFSY).
In 2011, just five states banned life without parole for children. Today, 17 states ban the practice, and another five ban the sentences in most cases. Several additional states have never imposed the sentence on a child. This rapid rate of change in recent years illustrates an emerging national consensus against the use of life-without-parole sentences on children—a punishment only imposed on children in the United States.
“There is tremendous momentum nationwide from conservatives and liberals alike to end the draconian practice of condemning children to die in prison,” said Jody Kent Lavy, CFSY executive director. “When we sentence children to life without parole, we fail to acknowledge what every parent knows and adolescent development research has proven: children are not simply little adults. Their brains, like their bodies, are not fully formed. Because of where they are developmentally, they do not have adult levels of judgment or ability to assess risks, are more susceptible to peer pressure, and have a unique capacity for change. That is why they should never be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release.”
Former Sen. Alan Simpson, (R-WY), is among those supporting the effort to ban these sentences.
“Before I served our great nation, I too was a juvenile offender who committed serious crimes, risking my own life and the lives of others,” Simpson said in a letter calling on state legislators across the country to pass legislation banning life-without-parole sentences for children. “With minor changes in the facts of the crime, I could have spent years—or perhaps my entire life—in the clink. I am living proof that youth possess a unique capacity to grow and change. The child who seems helpless today could go on and change the world. That’s why I strongly support the work of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth which is actively working to end the practice of sentencing children to die in prison.”
States throughout the country are moving away from the practice of sentencing children to life without parole with leadership from a robust national alliance built by the CFSY that includes conservative and progressive state legislators, prosecutors, judges, and, significantly, family members of people who have died as a result of crimes committed by youth and members of the Incarcerated Children’s Advocacy Network (ICAN), a national network of individuals formerly incarcerated for serious crimes committed as children.
States in every region of the country have eliminated life-without-parole sentences for children. Legislation to eliminate the practice has passed in Republican-led states such as Wyoming and Utah, and Democratic-led states, including Delaware and Connecticut.
The CFSY’s report released today highlights these important reforms, key stakeholders involved in abolition efforts, and some of the lives impacted by the recent bans on the practice of sentencing children to die in prison.
“I’m incredibly grateful to the Campaign for all the work they’ve done to change the dialogue regarding youthful offenders,” said Dr. Linda White of Texas. “In spite of being the mother of a young woman who was killed by two 15-year-olds, I see only waste—wasted lives and wasted funds better spent on preservation—in keeping children locked up until they die behind bars. It also seems really cruel to their families, who become one more set of victims.”
Read the CFSY’s new report, Righting Wrongs: The Five Year Groundswell of State Bans on Life Without Parole for Children:
Colorado Eliminates Life Without Parole
Colorado has officially eliminated the practice of sentencing children to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Gov. John Hickenlooper signed two bills into law on Friday that will guarantee parole opportunities for the 48 people serving the sentence. Colorado banned the sentences prospectively in 2006, but did not devise provisions for the four dozen individuals who were already serving life-without-parole sentences for crimes committed as children.
Overall, hundreds of people who were sentenced to life without parole as children will have opportunities for review consideration as a result of legislative, litigation and policy changes enacted since the beginning of 2016.
“We are thrilled that Colorado, an early leader in prohibiting life-without-parole sentences for children, has finally prohibited these cruel sentences for all children no matter when their offenses occurred,” said Nikola Nable-Juris, policy counsel for the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, the national organization working exclusively to replace extreme sentences for children with age-appropriate, trauma-informed accountability measures. “While children in Colorado still face lengthy sentences that are not yet age-appropriate, we are heartened that no child will die in prison without the opportunity for review and are optimistic that SB 180 and SB 181 will be catalysts for future reform efforts.”
Under Senate Bill 181, people previously serving these sentences will be entitled to resentencing hearings and subject to new sentencing ranges of 30 to 50 years or life in prison with the possibility after 40 years for felony murder cases. The other individuals serving JLWOP will receive life with the possibility of parole after 40 years.
The Colorado Legislature also passed Senate Bill 180, which allows certain individuals who received adult sentences for crimes committed as children to apply for a specialized prison program that provides work training and reentry skills. Incarcerated individuals who have not been released on parole may apply to the program after they have served 20 years. Participants who have evidenced positive change, growth and rehabilitation may then apply to the governor for early parole.
The reforms in Colorado come just weeks after the Iowa Supreme Court banned life without parole for children. Both South Dakota and Utah banned the sentences earlier this year. Just last week, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said he will not seek life-without-parole sentences in past and future cases involving children. More than 300 Philadelphia children have been sentenced to life without parole, more than any place else in the world. Among them is Joe Ligon, 78, who has served more time than anyone in Pennsylvania and potentially the nation. The New York Times has called on other districts attorney to follow Mr. Williams’ lead.
In addition, two recent Florida Supreme Court cases have further highlighted the growing impact of Miller v. Alabama and Montgomery v. Louisiana in providing relief for youth sentenced to life in prison. The rulings found that everyone sentenced to a mandatory life-without-parole sentence as a child is entitled to review consideration, regardless of when they were sentenced. In Atwell v. Florida, the Florida Supreme Court held that a life with parole sentence that fails to provide a meaningful opportunity for relief through the parole process violates Miller and Montgomery. This decision means that at least 300 individuals sentenced to life with parole in Florida are eligible for resentencing.
And in Landrum v. Florida, the Florida Supreme Court held that Miller and Montgomery apply to discretionary life without parole sentences. The Florida Supreme Court recognized that the principles on which Miller and Montgomery were decided necessarily apply to discretionary life without parole sentences. With this decision, Florida joins other states such South Carolina and Georgia that have afforded resentencing opportunities to individuals sentenced as children to discretionary life without parole.
The result of all of this is that fewer children will die in prison.
“There is no question that the tide is turning against these death-in-prison sentences,” said Jody Kent Lavy, director and national coordinator at the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth. “Certainly, there is more work to be done. Many of these important reforms still fall short of holding children accountable in age-appropriate and trauma-informed ways, and too many states are still willing to impose extreme sentences upon children. But these types of penalties are losing favor as more policymakers and opinion leaders call for reform. When the lead prosecutor in the city that has used the sentence more aggressively than anyone else abandons the practice, the writing is on the wall.”
Iowa Supreme Court Bans Life-Without-Parole Sentences for Children
For Immediate Release: May 27, 2016
Iowa Supreme Court Bans Life-Without-Parole Sentences for Children
(Washington, DC) The Iowa Supreme Court today issued a historic ruling in State v. Sweet that life-without-parole sentences for all children 17 or younger violate the Iowa Constitution. Iowa joins a growing number of states that have outlawed this death-in-prison sentence for youth 17 and younger – a sentence only the United States imposes. The ruling builds upon a swell of opinions from the United States Supreme Court finding that youth must be treated less harshly than adults because of their unique characteristics as children.
Today’s ruling invalidates the life-without-parole sentences of dozens in Iowa sentenced for crimes committed as children.
“The Iowa Supreme Court has today enshrined in the law a protection too easily revoked from children who commit serious crimes: a respect for their child status,” said Jody Kent Lavy, Director & National Coordinator of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, a nonprofit that leads a national movement to end life without parole for youth. “The Court has respected what science and common sense demand: that children, because of their differences from adults, be treated less harshly in the eyes of the law, and never discarded forever with no hope of review.”
Today’s decision does not guarantee parole; it requires that the state never impose a sentence on children 17 or younger that condemns them to spend the rest of their lives in prison without any chances at review. It used as a deciding factor the difficulty a sentencer would have in determining whether a child’s crime reflects “permanent incorrigibility,” as required by the U.S. Supreme Court in its 2016 ruling in Montgomery v. Louisiana.
“[W]e are asking the sentencer to do the impossible, namely, to determine whether the offender is ‘irretrievably corrupt’ at a time when even trained professionals with years of clinical experience would not attempt to make such a determination,” the Iowa Supreme Court reasoned.
It now falls to lower courts in Iowa to implement the decision fairly and replace any unconstitutional life-without-parole sentences with alternatives that afford meaningful opportunities for release based on the mitigating factors of youth.
In last four years, the number of states that ban juvenile life without parole have more than tripled. Among them are Nevada, West Virginia, and Connecticut.
