U.S. is only nation where juveniles can serve life sentence, should that change?

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Davis Turner-Pool/Getty Images

 http://www.jlwop.com/blog/us-is-only-nation-where-juveniles-can-serve-life-sentence-sh.html

The California legislature on Wednesday will vote on the Fair Sentencing for Youth Act, or SB 9, which would enable juvenile offenders to petition the courts for changes in their life sentences.

Sponsored by Democratic senator and child psychologist Leland Yee of San Francisco, SB 9 is trying to reform the state’s current practice of sentencing juveniles to life without parole, which was instituted after California voters approved Proposition 115 in the wake of a 1980s crime spike.

SB 9 would permit inmates who had exhibited signs of rehabilitation and remorse to ask for a case review after 15 years of incarceration, in which they could be re-sentenced to 25 years to life. After serving 25 years, offenders would be eligible for parole, though they would need to go before a special board for examination prior to their release.
Adam Keigwin, Yee's cheif of staff, told Patt Morrison that nearly 300 Juveniles are serving these no-parole sentences in California prisons, and that some are serving them unjustly. “Half of these kids who are serving parole were not the trigger person, they were a look out, they were found guilty of being an accomplice." Under California's felony murder rule, the accomplice can be found as legally culpable as the actual killer.  "Sometimes they didn't even realize a murder was going to take place,” say Keigwin. “They thought they were robbing a store and something went horribly wrong.”
Critics point out that America is currently the only nation in the world to uphold this type of policy. Opposition in Texas already banned a bill similar to Prop. 115 in 2009, and in 2010 the U.S. Supreme Court found the practice unconstitutional on the grounds that it violated the cruel and unusual clause of the Constitution when minors had not committed murder.
Keigwin says that findings about human brain development were key to Yee's bill.  “We're talking about kids, we're talking about individuals who's brains have not fully matured, who make decisions based upon that immature brain that they would never make years later,” he said. “  And so, all we're saying is fifteen years after the fact, where you are now into your 30s—where your brain is fully developed—and you maybe could make a different decision based on that brain development; that you get that opportunity.”
Daniel Horowitz is a criminal defense and white collar crime attorney. His wife, Pamela Vitale, was brutally murdered murdered by a 16-year-old. That man is serving a life sentence without parole, and Horowitz says Lee's proposal i  “like letting the vampires out to to free the few people who are wrongly committed.”
He says recidivism rates among California criminals are very high, and questions whether or not the remorse these juveniles show is sincere.
Keigwin agrees that the crime against Horowitz's wife was tragic, and says someone murderers like that would never be released. Keigwin says he has not seen a single person released after a 25-to-life sentence commit a heinous crime. He says part of the problem lies with a criminal justice system he says that virtually ignores juveniles sentenced to life. “We lock you up we throw away the key, we don't give you any services whatsoever," said Keigwin, "all that does is really harden this individual.”
Horowitz says this is exactly the reason why these people should not have the option for parole, and says he has asked Lee to consider an alternative plan that changes the prison system and focuses on rehab.

Girls In the Juvenile Justice System

 

by ERIKA BERAS 

http://j.mp/pTmfKX 

 

(Keri Konik says the SNAP for Girls program has helped her daughter Dashaiylah control her anger. The program hopes to help at-risk girls from becoming juvenile offenders.)

Earlier this month, Allegheny County released their annual Juvenile Probation report. It didn’t look very different from reports from years past. Overall the number of juvenile arrests has remained steady, or even decreased. But the number of girls who are coming in has steadily increased. And they’re coming in for the kinds of crimes boys have more often come in for—crimes like aggravated assault.
It raises the question, are girls the new boys? Should they be treated as boys are?
There’s not much information on this topic but one place to start is juvenile court.
"All of our referrals are actually down. Probably 15 percent, 20 percent of our referrals over the last several years have gone down," said Russell Carlino, administrator of the county’s Juvenile Probation. "Twenty years ago when I got into the business, girls represented about 10 percent of our population, today it's about 20 or 25 percent. So now we have a larger percentage of our referrals coming from females," he said.
Carlino says no one is really sure why that is. One cause may be the chivalry theory.
"I mean the police used to say good girls don’t go to Shuman, we just take them home but now there is a price to play for equality I guess, because girls are being treated more like boys in the street too, and getting arrested. So it could be that the girls were committing those crimes before and they just weren’t arrested for it. They were just taken home," he said.
There’s something else: according to a paper from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, up to 92 percent of girls in the system have experienced some form of sexual, physical or emotional abuse, a much higher number than for boys. Those sorts of numbers aren’t tabulated in the county. But Russell Carlino says there’s no doubt it holds true locally.
Mary Hatheway has worked for the county’s Juvenile Probation for 27 years. She says working with girls is different.
"In dealing with them, there’s a lot of differences. Because females seem to have more compounded issues and they keep things inside them a longer period of time, and it takes them longer to trust staff or probation officers or whoever they are working with, so you end up working with them longer to build trust, and it's sometimes difficult to build trust because they have so many trauma," she said.
Mary says that what makes the increase in girls in the system more problematic is the difficulty in finding programs for them.
The rise isn’t just among the youth. According to data from the U.S. Department of Justice, not just more girls but more women are ending up in the justice system.
One of the concerns in having so many young offenders is that they may grow to be adult offenders.

The Sentencing, Of A Minor Child In "A Complex Case"

The Sentencing, Of A Minor Child In "A Complex Case"
RIP Much Respect. LOOK AT HIM! He thinks he shot and killed a man. FRED DID NOT DIE BY 3 BLAST OR BY MY SON BRYCE. What this news is saying doesn't even line up with the Police Report 90979792. NICK SHOT HIS DAD IN THE BACK ONE TIME, WHILE FRED WAS ASLEEP ON HIS COUCH. Bryce's father David, hired a private attorney. Bryce's defense attorney told Bryce that he shot fred 3 times, just like this news is saying.. I WAS THERE and this is a lie in order to cover up what was really going on. Several times this attorney changed the crime scene event and convinced Bryce of this too. Some Facts Are...Fred Named His Own Son Nick as His Killer! The court was protecting It's Head Doctor, Who happened to also be Bryce's New Psychiatrist from 2007-2009. Fred Cantu RIP Much Respect. My son Bryce, is 6 ft 3 minor child with a Gentic Mental Disorder, he had just turned 15. NOT 16. There are associated disorders inside a Syndrome and these are what Bryce's medications were for. I was there when Bryce's own private defense attorney told my son that he had shot a man three times while he laid sleeping on the couch. I was there when his lawyer told the Judge that Bryce was the shooter. Mrs Cantu knows her son Nick shot and killed her husband, his fathe. The police report states Fred Named their son Nick. Nick refused to take the hand test for gun residue. Nick wanted his father dead before he met Bryce in May 2009, and had asked others to kill for him. Nick hated his dad. The evidence against Bryce was that Nick told the police Bryce did this. Everything else is invented in Texas by adults who were protecting their own Interest. But told Bryce they were there for his best interest. He believed them, he trusted them. When they told him not to listen to his mother.. ME, Ms. D M M Pelletier, and said she's crazy... Bryce repeated what they said. He got manipulated-brainwashed and trained to say anything that would cause his case to go in the worse direction for him. They used his suseptible thought patterns to self incriminate him even if what he was saying was false. Substanical Evidence Exist. The DA didin't want any more controversy with the name Cantu. My CHILD was placed in this tragic position by the adults who had authority and influence over him. And whom he trusted. These adults manipulated Bryce into believing he is a competent adult that had murdered a man in cold blood, His own attorney was framing him. Fred was shot one time in the back while he was asleep on his couch. Fred later died at the hospital. God Rest His Soul. Inside Juvi there were plenty of Conflicts of Interest. This defense contributed towards the new Judges campaign. The parole officer has known the Doctor for over ten years. No matter how often the tragic crime was rewritten, adults helped Bryce to learn and adjust to new details. His Private defense team would then re-record Bryce confessing to their lies. Bryce signed what his lawyer placed in front of him. Nick D. Cantu's plead was that he would testify against Bryce should their ever come a trial. Nick had a public defender, why? The youths were tried seperately in front of the Judge. No jury, no trial. Though Nick was charged with the same crimes, I THINK ?Bryce was made out as the Master-Mind which is IMPOSSIBLE. My Child was alone when waived his Miranda Rights. His Disability Rights were violated. Charges: Capital Murder, Intent, Premeditation. In all the news clips, before and after the arrest, Nick looks the same. Bryce does not. Inside of Juvi Bryce was now being given a HEAVY DOSES of this and that, by the SAME Psychiatrist, Bryce looks better with medication, because HE NEEDS HIS MEDICATIONS! Outside of being arrested Bryce was often in an illegal drug induced daze, turning to DRO when his medications were removed by the New Psychiatrist. I flew to TX and stayed there for at least 4 months maybe more. Living in 5 different places, destroying my credit, trying to help my son. During the compency hearing I watched my son, zone in and out. I watched as he was being prodded by 2 adults in that court room to answer the way they wanted. Then he was given two forms to sign. Bryce signed what his attorney place in front of him. I was told to sign papers to have Bryces belongings released to me, I was refused a receipt. What did they really have me sign? I am Bryce's Biological Mother, D M M PELLETIER, I divorced David in Tampa, FL 1999. Some one in TX put in Bryce's case that I was Patricia R Vandergrift. who is-was the Step Mom to our son. In TX, She Divorced David in 2009. I was being confused with her. On Purpose....no one knows bryce's true sentence.... so many falsifications and crimes against him. I am still being denied a copy of the Transcripts, Plea Agreement and other court records. So much Substanical Evidence... where is my benevolent person-persons who will help me to help my son.... (((((((((((((Bryce))))))))))))

adult consequences

 
I am always astonished by the immense cruelty of prosecutors who place vulnerable young people at mortal risk by direct-filing kids into the adult system. The other day I quoted Brown County Indiana prosecutor Jim Oliver who said that justice was served in prosecuting then-13-year-old Blade Reed, a sixth-grader, as an adult and placing Blade in an adult prison.
“He committed an adult crime and he has received adult consequences,” Oliver said after the trial and sentencing.
Let’s look at those “adult consequences” and ask if they are justified in the case of any sixth-grader, but specifically this sixth-grader who, because of a lifetime of abuse, actually had the mental capacity of an eight- to ten-year-old at the time of the crime.
Blade was sent to Wabash Valley Correctional Institution, and arrived there on Christmas Eve in 2009. These are some of the “adult consequences” this vulnerable boy has suffered since then:
January 6, 2010 – A much older inmate attempts to rape Blade. Blade fought back and there was a heated verbal altercation.  Blade was written up and received 2 weeks in solitary confinement as well as the loss of 15 days of his 2-for-1 good time.
March 4, 2010 – Blade had a temperature of 100, and refused to attend class that day. He was written up for his refusal and lost phone and recreation privileges for 1 week.

March 29, 2010 – A much older inmate raped Blade in the shower. Blade was punished with 15 days in solitary confinement, 15 days loss of 2-for-1 good time, and loss of phone privileges for 1 month.

April 16, 2010 – Blade attempted suicide by slitting his wrists. He was punished with the loss of 2 more weeks of phone privileges, and loss of recreation privileges for 2 weeks.

April 22, 2010 – Upset that his room was disrupted by guards during a search, Blade refused to clean up the mess. He was written up for refusing to obey an order, but received no other punishment.

April 30, 2010 –Blade retrieved a basketball during recreation without asking the guard first. He was written up for being in an unauthorized area, and lost recreation and commissary privileges for 2 weeks.

May 24, 2010 – Following horse-playing with his roommate (the first roommate he had since his arrival at Wabash), Blade was written up for disruptive, unruly, and rowdy conduct. He lost recreation and phone privileges for 2 weeks.

May 27, 2010 – Blade tattoos himself and cuts his arm. He was written up for disfigurement and lost recreation, phone, and commissary privileges for 2 more weeks.
June 7, 2010 – Blade was raped again by another inmate in the shower, and cut with a razor. Blade managed to get the razor away from his assailant after being cut, and cut the other inmate. Blade was punished with 1 year solitary confinement.

July 22, 2010 – Blade shut down while coming back from the showers, and dropped to the floor in a fetal position. The guards said Blade kicked one of them (causing a bruised rib) while they were cuffing and shackling him. Blade was written up and received 1 additional month of solitary confinement.

August 2, 2010 – Blade attempts suicide a second time by slitting his wrists. He is punished with 2 more weeks of solitary confinement.
August 5, 2010 – Blade attempts suicide a third time by slitting his wrists. He is punished with 2 more weeks of solitary confinement. He was also written up for covering the camera monitor in his solitary cell, and was punished with 3 more weeks of  solitary confinement.

August 12, 2010 – Blade attempts suicide a fourth time by cutting his arm. He is punished with 1 month additional solitary confinement. Blade was also written up for resisting while being restrained by staff, and was punished with 1 more month of solitary confinement.

August 14, 2010 – Blade was severely beaten in the solitary shower area by another inmate. After he was injured, Blade once again managed to get the weapon away from and cut the attacker in self-defense. Blade was punished with 6 months additional time in solitary confinement.

August 26, 2010 – Blade was assaulted and injured again in the solitary shower area by another inmate. Blade managed to defend himself and get the weapon away from his assailant. Blade was punished with 6 months additional time in solitary confinement and loss of all 2-for-1 good time.

September 5 and 6, 2010 – Blade was written up again for covering camera monitor in his solitary confinement cell.

September 10, 2010 – Blade was injured during a takedown by staff. He resisted, received a write-up, and of course was punished with 1 more month of solitary confinement.

September 12, 2010 – While recuperating in the medical unit from his staff-inflicted injuries, Blade was injured by another inmate. Blade tried to get the weapon away from the other inmate, and was injured again by staff trying to subdue him and “de-escalate” the situation. Because Blade resisted, he was written up and punished with 6 months of additional solitary confinement time, and placed on “habitual violator” status. Because a desk was broken during the “de-escalation,” Blade was also written up for destruction of state property.
Let’s summarize these “adult consequences” to which Jim Oliver so glibly alluded for the benefit of the media and Brown County voters.
Over only an 8-month 12-day period of time in an adult prison, Blade Reed was raped two times and almost three, attacked by other inmates three times with weapons (shanks or razors), seriously injured by staff once, attempted suicide four times, lost all gain-time, lost recreation, phone and commissary privileges, and had numerous psychological episodes for which he received inadequate therapy and an excess of severe punishment (which only exacerbated his mental health issues).
He had been condemned to 2 years, 8 months, and 18 days of solitary confinement, which has been shown to be “cruel and unusual” punishment, especially for mentally-ill inmates whose conditions only deteriorate under such conditions. Until Blade’s advocate Stephen hired attorneys to remedy this abusive and damaging treatment, Blade had been scheduled to remain in solitary confinement until at least August of 2012.
It is important to realize that these events occurred only two-thirds of the way into the first year of a thirty-year sentence, and that Blade’s autism and untreated ADHD and PTSD do not offer much hope that he will ever be able to successfully navigate life in an adult prison. If we were to extrapolate his experiences onto a thirty-year time period, this would mean this vulnerable young man could be raped 88 times, attacked with weapons 88 times, injured by staff 29 times, and might attempt suicide 117 times—if he even survives long enough for this litany of horrors to play out.
Is this what Mr. Oliver has in mind when he speaks about “adult consequences”? What kind of adult would inflict such a future on a sixth-grader with the mental capacity of an eight-year-old? An adult, most assuredly, who is himself morally retarded.
“Our attorneys did manage to get Blade out of solitary, placed in the youthful offenders wing, and into a 2-man cell with someone Blade likes and who likes him,” Stephen said. Things have improved markedly for Blade since then. However, he is still in physical danger.
“My questions are and always have been: Why would you allow an inmate who had depression issues—and who had attempted suicide before—why would you allow him to continue to buy razors through the commissary? Also, with the repeated attacks on Blade, why were guards and staff never present? Did they want the attacks to happen?” Steven asked.
“Being placed in solitary confinement, there should have been guards in the shower area, as that is a maximum security section of the prison. We have always thought the repeated attacks on Blade were an inside job, but we can’t prove it,” he said.
The true conditions of prison life are not unknown to judges and prosecutors. Jim Oliver has to have known the hell he was sending Blade Reed into. His hands are not clean.
He was warned in court—on the record—when Dr. Tonya Foreman, the psychiatrist hired by the court to evaluate Reed’s mental and emotional state, took the stand, and warned: ““If he goes and develops in an adult model center, he will be influenced by the other inmates.”
Blade’s defense attorney James Roberts reiterated the warning in even stronger terms. Roberts argued that state penal codes are founded on reformation and not on vindictiveness. He said Blade Reed was a child who fell through the cracks in social service programs, and that the biggest risk for the community would be to put Blade in an adult prison with no education and criminals as his role models.  “I can’t think of a better formula to release a monster on society,” Roberts said.
Oliver scoffed it all off claiming, “This psychiatric examination is biased. This started with the idea that no 13-year-old should go to prison and went from there.” And then as a last word, Mr. Oliver made the standard argument one hears from prosecutors for retribution:  he questioned what he called the “prison” that the widow of the murder victim must be living in, asking the judge to consider her feelings.
Yes, she may be living in a kind of prison. Yet it is not a prison in which she must live in constant fear of rape and physical assaults or be forced to endure solitary confinement. I cannot imagine that, no matter how great her anguish, she would think it right that the boy who showed her mercy and refused to follow orders to murder her should suffer as much as Blade has suffered.
Seems to me we need to be thinking in terms of what kinds of “adult consequences” are appropriate for Mr. Oliver and other prosecutors of his kind.

۞

Groove of the Day 

Listen to The Black Keys performing “Have Mercy On Me”

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Report Says Black Youths Disproportionately Affected By Measure 11

by Chris Lehman
| http://t.co/CyPwMtF 
A new report claims that Oregon's Measure 11 sentencing law disproportionately pushes black youth into the adult criminal justice system. Measure 11 mandates compulsory sentencing for most violent crimes. And if you're a youth, it means you're tried as an adult.
The group Partnership for Safety and Justice says its research shows that while African-Americans account for just four percent of Oregon's youth, they comprise 19 percent of juvenile Measure 11 indictments. Nationally, black youth have a greater chance of being arrested than youth of other races.
But the report found that when black youth are arrested in Oregon, they're three times as likely to be indicted for a Measure 11 offense than white youth arrested for the same crimes.
Oregon District Attorneys contest the findings. They point to an earlier study that suggests Measure 11 did not worsen existing racial inequities in the criminal justice system.
The findings come as Governor John Kitzhaber has commissioned a group to study Oregon's sentencing laws
On the Web:
Partnership for Safety and Justice study:
http://www.safetyandjustice.org/files/Misguided_Measures.pdf
Commission for Comprehensive Sentencing Reform:
http://governor.oregon.gov/Gov/media_room/press_releases/p2011/press_071511a.shtml

Written Arguments Due

 

Time	31 August · 09:00 - 17:00
Location	Wayne County Judge Sullivan's Court Detroit, MI
Created by:	'iluu Shondaa
For	Free Davontae Sanford

In ordering the written arguments, Sullivan said Davontae's attorney, Kim McGinnis, should explain gunpowder residue police found on Sanford’s clothing and how he knew details of the scene inside the house. Sullivan has also said that prosecutors should address Smothers' confession as well as the recovery of a .45-caliber pistol used in the killings.

The written arguments are due at the end of August. There is no date set for Sullivan’s ruling.

Hearing concludes on new trial for learning disabled teen in quadruple murder case

BY JOE SWICKARD

http://www.freep.com/article/20110725/NEWS02/110725042/Hear. 

Testimony ended this morning and a Wayne County judge ordered written arguments in the extended hearing aimed at winning a new trial for a Detroit teenager who confessed to taking part in a quadruple murder at a drug house.
Circuit Court Judge Brian Sullivan declined to hear the testimony of a defense investigator who said that confessed hit man Vincent Smothers cleared Davontae Sanford of the 2007 fatal shootings on Runyon Street.
Appellate attorney Kim McGinnis is trying to get a new trial for the learning disabled Sanford saying he falsely confessed and pleaded guilty to taking part in the killings when he was 14.
Smothers has claimed responsibility for the shooting but has not been charged with them. He is serving murder sentences for a series of contract killings.
In ordering the written arguments, Sullivan said McGinnis should explain gunpowder residue police found on Sanford’s clothing and how he knew details of the scene inside the house while prosecutors should address Smothers' confession as well as the recovery of a .45-caliber pistol used in the killings.
The written arguments are due at the end of August. There is no date set for Sullivan’s ruling.

Florida's Kids Prison - USA

Child offenders die behind bars in US "life means life" policy


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America is the only country in the world to treat children the same as adults when it comes to murder trials. Should children be put behind bars for life? We meet two young men who want a second chance.


I can't even put into words the regret I feel", Alfonza says. When he was 14, Alfonza attacked a woman and her two children in their car, raping the woman and shooting the children dead. "His second chance is having a life", says the devastated surviving mother. Devin, falling into the wrong crowd after a traumatic upbringing, is in jail for his part in a robbery that went wrong. He didn't kill anyone, yet he also got a life sentence with no review. One judge admits that perhaps "you need discretion" in these cases.