Published on Mar 25, 2014 by acluvideos
Music by Keith Kenniff (PRS/BMI).
We live in the only country in the world where a child can be sentenced to be in prison until they die. What’s worse is that it’s not even rare — more than 2,500 people who were sentenced as kids will spend the rest of their lives in prison.
Juwan is one of them. He was a skinny 16-year-old kid when he was arrested after he saw a companion kill a pizza deliveryman. The shooter was never convicted, but because Juwan was present and had a gun, he was sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Without the possibility of parole, Juwan will never have a second chance for rehabilitation.
Just one year before Juwan was sentenced, the Supreme Court decided that mandatory juvenile life without parole was unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment.
The problem is — the decision left gaping loopholes and didn’t ban the sentence outright, meaning that Juwan and other children became victims of poor timing and inadequate policy implementation. While six states have moved to ban the practice, this barbaric punishment is still perfectly legal in 44 states.
But the Department of Justice has the power to close some of these loopholes and set the standard on the federal level. By providing policy guidelines for U.S. attorneys, the DOJ can ensure that judges are empowered to use discretion and give appropriate sentences based on unique circumstances.
Attorney General Eric Holder has already endorsed proposals that limit life without parole sentences for non-violent drug offenders. If he hears from thousands of us who support criminal justice reform, he can provide the tools needed to limit juvenile life without parole sentences.
It’s time that we give kids like Juwan a second chance at life.
Now the first kid in the video had a gun, and was present at the murder of a pizza delivery man, and although life without parole is a harsh sentence to give any 16 year-old, at least he was involved in a crime.
The second kid, according to the captions in the video, merely handed his mother keys, which she used as a weapon to kill someone. There aren’t many details given about the crimes themselves, but I can’t see how a judge can find criminal intent in handing someone a set of keys.
I think we should pardon everyone that isn’t guilty of cold-blooded murder, rape, or pedophilia, unless they’re rich.