The Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth

Mothering the man charged as a teen in her son’s death

jross2012 — Fri, 10 May 2013 17:19:05 +0000

Sharletta Evans of Denver plans to spend part of her Mother’s Day thinking about the man convicted the death of her 3-year-old son when he himself was a boy. She has agree to take on the role of mother in his life. Read more

‘Shakespeare Saved My Life’ Excerpt: Laura Bates’s Tale Of How The Bard Helped A Solitary Confinement Prisoner

jross2012 — Fri, 10 May 2013 16:59:38 +0000

The following is an excerpt from Laura Bates’s Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary with the Bard. Bates taught Shakespeare to solitary confinement prison inmates. She befriends a convicted murderer named Larry. The following is the story of their budding friendship:

“Oh, man, this is my favorite freakin’ quote!”

What professor wouldn’t like to hear a student enthuse so much over a Shakespeare play—a Shakespeare history play, no less!—and then to be able to flip the two-thousand page Complete Works book open and find the quote immediately:

“’When that this body did contain a spirit, a kingdom for it was too small a bound!’”

5 essential reasons to keep kids out of adult jails

jross2012 — Fri, 10 May 2013 16:18:51 +0000

By Kerry Bolger, PhD (Public Interest Government Relations Office)

Federal law protects children in the juvenile justice system from being held in adult jails. But did you know that, on a typical day in America, over 7,500 children are locked up in adult jails?

That’s because federal protections to keep kids out of adult jails and lock-ups don’t apply to children charged as adults.

The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), which was first passed in 1974 and most recently reauthorized in 2002, provides grants to States for juvenile crime prevention and intervention programs. To be eligible for these funds, States must comply with four “core protections” for youth in the justice system, including jail removal and sight and sound separation to protect children from contact with adult inmates. But because of a loophole in the law, children charged in the adult criminal system are excluded from these two protections.

Here are just 5 of the essential reasons to keep kids out of adult jails.

Recognizing Mothers

jross2012 — Fri, 10 May 2013 15:47:23 +0000

As we observe Mother’s Day, we would like to recognize some of the mothers whose children are serving extreme sentences for crimes committed when they were children. They are in our thoughts this weekend, as are mothers who have lost their children to youth violence.

Message from Jody Kent Lavy

jross2012 — Wed, 08 May 2013 14:36:08 +0000

Last week I returned from three months of maternity leave. While I was away, I was able to spend precious time with my dear daughter, Clara, and take a step back to reflect on where we are in our movement to end extreme sentencing for children.

I knew that my colleagues at the CFSY and around the country were working tirelessly to defend the spirit of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Miller v. Alabama decision by challenging narrow interpretations of the decision. Some policymakers have rushed to enact the next most extreme sentence in place of mandatory life without parole for children, which Miller struck down nearly a year ago. Meanwhile, attorneys have been battling over whether Miller applies retroactively to the several thousand people serving mandatory life-without-parole sentences for crimes committed as youth.

This Mothers’ Day, many mothers are cautious in their hopes that Miller will indeed mean that their children previously sentenced to die in prison will someday get a chance to return home.

We anticipated these kinds of challenges in the wake of Miller because the changes required by the Court represent a shift that some are inclined to resist. Rather than automatically assigning children permanent judgments, the Court has said children’s age, role in crime, history and other factors should be considered when holding them accountable.

We know that it will take years to unravel the decades-old system that ignores the fundamental differences between children and adults and allows children, in America alone, to be sentenced to die in prison. So, while we continue to work in partnership with attorneys, advocates and others to advance positive reforms, defeat harmful ones and achieve incremental successes in the legislatures and courts, we know this is just one part of a longer term effort that is necessary to bring about meaningful, lasting reform.

In order to keep the momentum going toward enactment of fair sentences for children, we are focused on further humanizing this issue, educating policymakers and judges and broadening support for reforms that uphold the dignity and human rights of our children.

And as I approach my first Mothers’ Day as a mother myself, I will stand with the courageous mothers of the thousands of youth our society has declared unworthy of a life outside the confines of prison walls, and dare to hope along with them that our country can, and MUST do better by our children. Join us.

For up-to-the-minute updates regarding state legislation, please contact Daniel Gutman at dgutman@fairstentencingofyouth.org or LaShunda Hill at lhill@fairsentencingofyouth.org. For information about court action, please contact John Hardenbergh at jhardenbergh@fairsentencingofyouth.org.

In solidarity,

Jody Kent Lavy

Director & National Coordinator

Film details former prosecutor’s focus on fair sentencing for children as part of his faith

jross2012 — Tue, 07 May 2013 21:05:27 +0000

The new film “Redemption of the Prosecutor” shares the personal story of Preston Shipp, a former prosecutor who now works in partnership with the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth to end the practice of sentencing children to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Producers hope that faith based organizations (and others) will use the film to begin or to advance conversations about juvenile justice, particularly the need to develop just alternatives to long prison terms for children.

The United Methodist General Board of Church and Society, a CFSY official supporter, recently hosted the world premier screening of the film, which was produced by Brave New Foundation’s Beyond Bars Campaign in partnership with the United Methodist Church. Representatives from national faith organizations, advocacy groups and media entities were invited to attend.

The film reviews Preston’s background as an appellate prosecutor in Tennessee. His job was to argue on behalf of the state that the individuals who filed appeals deserved the sentence they received, a task that he did without ever meeting the convicted person. As a committed Christian, Preston says he was confident that he was doing the work of justice.

Preston’s perspective changed while teaching a class on the justice system at the Tennessee Prison for Women; he discovered that one of the brightest students in his class was also someone whose appeal he had argued against. Cyntoia Brown, who was convicted for a crime that occurred when she was 16, was engaging, well-spoken, and warm. In large part due to his experience with Cyntoia, Preston came to see the humanity he had been trained to ignore and to recognize her as someone who would be an asset to society outside of prison.

To learn more about the film and the accompanying discussion guide, or to arrange for a viewing to educate faith communities about the need for reform of our justice system, please visit http://www.redemptionoftheprosecutor.org/.

Infographic: The Cost of Sentencing Children to Die in Prison

cthor — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:37:06 +0000

Click to enlarge image

Children should be held accountable for the harm they have caused in age-appropriate ways that focus on rehabilitation and reintegration into society. But our public policies that sentence children to life in prison without parole fail to do this. This new infographic, produced by the CFSY in alliance with Participant Media, details the costs of these policies in dollars and cents.

Huffington Post Live: Rehab for teens who commit crimes

jross2012 — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:37:12 +0000

Xavier McElrath-Bey of Chicago, was was incarcerated as a youth, joins a panel to discuss whether teens who get into serious trouble can be rehabilitated.

http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/teenage-killers%2C-rehabilitation/512ccbe22b8c2a7d5500004e

Cornell law professors fight legal battle for South Carolina juvenile lifers

jross2012 — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:31:06 +0000

NEW YORK — Shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last June in the Miller v. Alabama case, John Blume, a professor at Cornell Law School, started worrying about his home state of South Carolina.

Blume knew the Miller decision — which ruled that mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole for juveniles violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment — would create a great need for legal work in South Carolina.

The legal limbo created by the Miller decision is not unique to South Carolina, however. Advocates for juvenile sentencing reform estimate there are 2,500 prisoners in nearly 30 states across the country who are serving life sentences without parole, including some 2,100 who were given mandatory sentences. In fact, other states across the country contending with the same confusion have more inmates than the 36 Blume and his team found in need of new remedies to meet the standards of the Miller decision. Pennsylvania, for instance, has around 500 prisoners who could be eligible for new sentences under Miller.

From prison to juvenile justice lawyer

jross2012 — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:27:11 +0000

A group of incarcerated teenage boys at the O.H. Close Youth Correctional Facility in Stockton slouch in plastic orange chairs, arms crossed, scowling at their tie-clad visitor, whose lecture will eat into their TV time.

Francis “Frankie” Guzman, a 32-year-old lawyer and recipient of a prestigious Soros Justice Fellowship to advocate for juvenile justice, gets right to the point.

“How many of you read ‘Lord of the Flies’? It’s like that in here, right? But which one of you is leading? Do you really want to follow that guy?”

Guzman speaks like he knows what he’s talking about, and the boys, ages 14 to 17, take notice. There’s a perceptible shift as they sit up a little straighter.

Guzman knows exactly what it’s like to wear khaki pants every day and sleep in a cell. When he was 15, he and a friend stole a car and robbed a liquor store at gunpoint in Southern California, resulting in six years behind bars inside the California Youth Authority.