More States Rethinking Life Sentences for Teens

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Their lawyers have long urged juries to give juvenile defendants a second chance. Now a growing number of states are rethinking the wisdom of sentencing teenagers to life in prison.
Two states have recently passed -- and at least 11 states are considering -- legislation that would end life sentences for those under 18 years old or, more generally, restrict charging juveniles as adults.
The U.S. Supreme Court will also have something to say on the issue. In two Florida cases argued in November, the high court is considering whether a life sentence without parole for juveniles who have committed crimes other than murder violates the U.S. Constitution's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
But state lawmakers are not waiting to hear the justices' opinion. Although efforts to abolish juvenile-lifer laws are nothing new, the legislators' willingness to side with criminal defense lawyers against prosecutors is a change. And a key reason appears to be new scientific evidence that adolescents are simply not capable of weighing their actions like adults.
"We believe that kids should be rehabilitated instead of throwing the key away.…[A]nd legislators across the country are starting to see that," said Eric Solomon, a spokesman for the Campaing for Youth Justice, which pushes to rewrite juvenile justice laws across the country. Among other tactics, the group asks parents of teenagers who have served time in adult prisons or jails -- including some who have committed suicide behind bars -- to lobby their state lawmakers. Or, as Solomon put it, to "fire everyone up."

To read more:
Tresa Baldas, "More States Rethinking Life Sentences for Teens," The National Law Journal (March 15, 2010), http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?i...nces_for_Teens.

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Efrén Paredes Jr. was a 15-year-old honor roll student in rural Michigan when he was convicted of killing an assistant manager at the grocery store where he worked and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Today, he is one of almost 1,775 prisoners who were sentenced as youth and locked up for life without parole, according to a report released by The Sentencing Project, a prison reform research and advocacy organization. A staggering 77 percent of those youth are Black or Latino.

This June, the Supreme Court will decide whether young people can be sentenced to life without parole for crimes that didn’t result in a death. Separately, several states are also considering abolishing life without parole for youth.

The ruling will set a major legal precedent that may affect cases like Paredes’s. In the meantime, Paredes, who is now 36, is hoping that Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm will grant his commutation request by the end of her term this year and release him.

Paredes has been in prison since 1989, when he was accused of robbing the store in rural St. Joseph, Michigan and killing Rick Tetzlaff. Three local youth admitted to being involved in the crime and said Paredes fired the fatal shot. After a one-week trial, Paredes was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Jason Williamson, a 16-year old white youth, received six months in juvenile prison. Alex and Eric Mui, 16- and 17-year-old Asian brothers, received 18 to 45 years in adult prison but have since been released. Eric Mui recanted his original statement five months later.

To read more:
Leticia Miranda, "Fighting for their lives," Colorlines (March 15, 2010), http://www.colorlines.com/article.php?ID=691.

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Go to fairsentencingforyouth.org