CA Senate considers easing juveniles' life sentences
While the rest of their peers were in class on a Tuesday afternoon gearing up for finals, three USC Law students were on the front lines fighting for legislation they believe in.
Post-Conviction Justice Project students Ashley Johndro '10, Anna Faircloth '10 and Nick Rosenthal '09, accompanied by clinic director Prof. Heidi Rummel, traveled to the state capitol in Sacramento as part of a 70-person delegation to lobby in favor of California Senate Bill 399, the Fair Sentencing for Youth Act, on April 14.
SB 399 aims to provide youths who are sentenced to life without parole with a path to resentencing, and the possibility of parole, through rehabilitation.
The delegation included members of Human Rights Watch and the Youth Justice Coalition, families of those sentenced to life without parole as juveniles, religious leaders and other professionals.
“It was very powerful and uplifting to see how so many people from so many walks of life could come together behind a single purpose,” said Faircloth.
For the students, the bill dovetailed with their interest in working with Human Rights Watch to write petitions for juveniles sentenced to life without parole. When Elizabeth Calvin of Human Rights Watch — who worked closely with the state senator who wrote the bill — contacted Rummel, the students signed on to support the cause.
Johndro wrote a law review note about recent developments in psychology and neuroscience that have been used by the Supreme Court to outlaw the death penalty for juvenile offenders. Since adolescents’ brains are still maturing into their 20s, adolescents often commit crimes under duress and mitigating mental states, she found.
Johndro argued that these developments should be weighed by California judges considering issuing life sentences to juveniles. She recommended sentences of 25 years to life, which permit juvenile offenders to work toward their release after serving prison time for their crimes.
SB 399 echoes Johndro’s concerns. It argues that although life-without-parole sentences are supposed to be reserved for criminals who are so recalcitrant that rehabilitation is hopeless, many juvenile offenders have shown they are not a lost cause.
The bill would allow juveniles sentenced to life without parole to demonstrate their intent and ability to rehabilitate themselves. If a juvenile can prove this intent and ability to a judge, the judge may consider resentencing the juvenile to allow for the possibility of parole in the future.
In Sacramento, the delegation went to a committee hearing and a press conference to voice their support for SB 399, then split up and spent the rest of the day meeting in small groups with various senators or their staffers.
“It was a very good experience to see the legislative process in action,” Faircloth said.
Johndro, meanwhile, said the day was a great way to combine her support for the bill with her legal training.
“I was able to get practical advocacy experience and provide support to families and a worthy cause,” she said.
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