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logoVictims of
Juvenile Killers and Violent Teens
Sentenced To
Juvenile Life Without Parole

ED NOTE: It should be clear to all who read the many documents, sites, and blogs linked on this page that are in support of changes in sentencing for juvenile offenders sentenced to life without parole that there is a problem of imbalance, and a disregard for the seriousness of the crimes and the impact on victims. Propaganda that misleads readers. Millions spent on offenders. Not a dime for their victims. While we understand the need to discuss public policy and even genuine need for reforms with regards to offenders, many of the "reports" below are often not so much objective and factual reporting as propaganda advocacy in which the only goal is a sympathetic picture of offenders and virtually no mention of the details of the crimes. We believe that it is not only unethical and a further re-traumatizing violation of victims to marginalize them so, but it is poor political strategy as well. Their only hope to pass meaningful legislative changes in juvenile proceedings is to build broad political coalitions that can include victims of juvenile offenses. We ask the media, the academic world, the Foundations that fund efforts for the offenders, and the legal community to take up the crimes and the victims with equal fervor, attention and resources. Only when we fully understand and embrace the true nature of these crimes and the impact on the victims, can we have a meaningful conversation about what to do with the offenders and how to prevent these horrors in the first place.

Contact Us to send us links, updates, and materials to post on this page

CONTENTS OF THIS PAGE of the www.jlwopvictims.org website:

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Documents, books, resources, and reports pertaining to sentencing, victims rights, juvenile brains, and JLWOP
 

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Advocacy organizations for victims
 

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Advocacy organizations for juvenile offenders sentenced to life (JLWOP or "juvenile lifers")
 

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Blogs discussing the JLWOP sentence - Join in the discussion - let victims' voices be heard!
 

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Polling Data relevant to this discussion
 

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MEDIA on JLWOP
 

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Related other information ie general juvenile crime rates, etc

 

LINKS to groups advocating for "Juvenile Lifers"
(caveat: our organization does not endorse necessarily any of these organizations - merely provides the links for informational purposes)
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ACLU

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American Bar Association

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Colorado - Compassion in Sentencing
 

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Equal Justice Initiative
 

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The Pendulum Foundation - Colorado

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The Iowa Coalition to Oppose JLWOP
 

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Illinois Coalition for the "Fair Sentencing of Children"
 

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Human Rights Watch
 

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California Human Rights Watch
 

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Amnesty International

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J.A.I.L. - Juveniles Against Incarceration for Life (Michigan)
 

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Justice for Juveniles
 

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Michigan's "Second Chances"
 

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NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund
 

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National Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression NAARPR

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National Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth
 

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Nebraska and ACLU "Second Chances"
 

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Child Rights Information Network
 

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National Coalition to Ban Life Without Parole for
Youth Offenders

 

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Justice for Juveniles

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The Other Death Penalty Project
 

LINKS to Victims Rights Groups in States
and National Advocacy for Victims

(caveat: our organization does not endorse necessarily
any of these organizations - merely provides links for informational purposes)
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Ben Doran Foundation in Minnesota

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Citizens Against Homicide
 

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COVA - Colorado victim advocates
 

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Crime Victims United of California
 

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Crime Victims Action Alliance
 

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Delaware Victims Rights Task Force
 

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IllinoisVictims.org
 

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Justice for All - Texas
 

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National Center for Victims of Crime NCVC
 

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National Coalition of Victims in Action
 

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National Organization of Victims Assistance NOVA
 

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Office for Victims of Crime - US Dept of Justice
 

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Other victim resources/organizations nationally
 

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Parents of Murdered Children with chapters everywhere
 

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Polly Franks Foundation - VA

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Texans for Equal Justice

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Three Strikes Organization - CA
 

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Victims for Justice - Alaska
 

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Victims Voices Heard - Delaware
 

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Virginians United Against Crime

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Voices of Victims
 

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You Have the Power - TN

 

 DOCUMENTS, BOOKS, RESOURCES AND REPORTS ON VICTIMS, SENTENCING, and JLWOP

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ADULT CRIME FOR ADULT TIME: Life Without Parole for Juvenile Killers and Violent Teens  the latest and most accurate research on the actual JLWOP picture nationally, from the Heritage Foundation, that debunks much of the disinformation published in several of the offender advocacy reports listed below

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University of San Francisco School of Law builds a JLWOP Brief database on line as part of their project to end JLWOP. No mention of course of the victims
or the crimes on the website.

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"Death by Incarceration"

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USF's Publication "Sentencing Children to Die in Prison" and accompanying article of the same name

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A powerful book explodes myths about adolescence and adult responsibility - The Case Against Adolescence

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Children's Exposure to Violence: A Comprehensive National Survey - this report made huge national headlines in October 2009, and sheds much light on
causes of youth violence as well as impact. Many victims of violent teens are children. And it goes a long way to show how different America is from other nations
on this difficult issue. NOVJL reiterates its call nationally to bring victims of violent teens fully to the table in conversations about how to prevent and address
this national crisis.

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The Book Teenage Rampage: The Worldwide Youth Crime Explosion http://www.mayhem.net/books/rampage.html

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Juvenile Life Without Parole for Non-Homicide Cases: Florida compared to the Nation

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"From Time Out To Hard Time - Young Children in the Adult Criminal Justice System" - offender advocacy publication

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OJJP Releases most recent statistics on Juvenile Offenders transferred to adult criminal courts - only 8 in 1000 cases - rare as we said it should be!

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2009 Human Rights Watch Table of JLWOP Statistics for all States and Federal these numbers are in dispute by other researchers
 

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Group EJI seeks Supreme Court cert to take case of then 13 year old killer sentenced to life Dec 2008
 

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The National Crime Victims Law Institute's report on sentencing models in all 50 states and the role
that victims have, if any, in any parole boards considering prisoner releases in states that have it.

 

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The National Crime Victims Law Institute's brief on victims' rights in retroactive sentencing reduction
legislative discussions
in this case in Illinois (but would be applicable in many states in principle)
 

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MacArthur Foundation related juvenile justice legal reports on the Changing Borders of Juvenile Justice and Less Guilty by Reason of Adolescence
(some offender advocacy)

 

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The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child - summary - see article 37
 

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Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International's joint report on JLWOP - "The Rest of Their Lives" - offender advocacy
 

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Human Rights Watch JLWOP Page - offender advocacy
 

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Human Rights Watch Report on Victims Rights, "Mixed Results" (inspired by an NOVJL member)
 

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Human Rights Watch Colorado Report "Thrown Away" - offender advocacy
 

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Equal Justice's Report, "Cruel and Unusual: Sentencing 13 and 14 Year Old Children to Die in Prison" -offender advocacy
 

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"Categorically Less Culpable" Report  from the Illinois Coalition for the Fair Sentencing of Children -offender advocacy
 

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Michigan - ACLU Report against the JLWOP sentence offender advocacy
 

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Michigan State University Criminal Justice Library - Juvenile Justice resources
 

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Sentencing Law and Policy Report on JLWOP offender advocacy
 

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Boston College Professor's Paper on JLWOP after the Supreme Court's Roper V Simmons Case on the Juvenile Death Penalty
 

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"Criminology and Public Policy" papers on JLWOP
 

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National Sentencing Commission - this report has a list of which states have determinate sentencing (no parole)
and which ones have indeterminate sentencing (parole) - relevant to the JLWOP discussion as what victims face
in these two kinds of state sentencing schemes is quite different with revisions in the law
 

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Varying Victim Perspectives on JLWOP from group advocating against JLWOP
 

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The NAACP's Legal Defense Project report on JLWOP in Mississippi "No Chance to Make It Right", (a title we vehemently object to! (even more than the other bad ones - See below **for explanation.)
 

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"When I Die, They'll Send Me Home" - a report on JLWOP in California from Human Rights Watch -offender advocacy
 

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"Brain Overclaim Syndrome" - a scientific debunking of the mis-use of brain research in "excusing" juvenile criminal behavior
 

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The Brain On The Stand" from the NY Times
 

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A research paper written on Juvenile Life Without Parole by a Stanford University student preparing for Law School who opposes the sentence and see our commentary*****
 

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The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has published Juvenile Transfer Laws: An Effective Deterrent to Delinquency? We believe that the mandatory nature of the juvenile transfer into adult courts is an area of possible reform to the JLWOP sentence that reformers should focus on.
 

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A book from the MacArthur Foundation, The Changing Borders of Juvenile Justice: Transfer of Adolescents to the Criminal Court, Ed. Jeffrey Fagan, Jeffrey Zimring. (which addresses the issue we feel will be key in JLWOP sentencing reform, the mandatory transfer mechanisms of juvenile criminals to adult court)
 

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The new book Rethinking Juvenile Justice touches on many issues related to this debate
 

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The Juvenile Justice Newsletter "Adult Time for Adult Crime"
 

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Princeton University's "The Future of Children" makes recommendations about how to keep adolescents out of prison
An executive summary and related policy brief, "Keeping Adolescents Out of Prison,"
 

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  The 2009 Criminal Justice Transition Coalition, which includes The Sentencing Project and 20 other prominent national organizations, has just released a collaborative report identifying critical needs for federal policy reform. Smart on Crime: Recommendations for the Next Administration and Congress contains comprehensive policy recommendations at every stage of the justice system for the new Administration and Congress.
 

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Juvenile Life Without Parole Fact Sheet
 

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The ACLU calls on Congress to end Life sentences for under age 18 offenders- offender advocacy
 

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Michigan State University's Juvenile Sentencing Issues Resource Page

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Youth and the US Justice System A history curriculum that traces developments in the juvenile justice system from the 1500’s to the policies and practices of today

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 The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's National Youth Gang Center has posted updated findings and analyses from OJJDP's National
Youth Gang Survey (NYGS) on its Web site. Available data include annual numbers of gangs and gang members from 1996 through 2007, the change in the number of gang-problem jurisdictions from 2002 to 2007, and gang member demographics.  You can download great data from the National Gang Center at http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/Survey-Analysis.

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Published by the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin, the report "From Time Out to Hard Time: Young Children
in the Adult Criminal Justice System" analyzes available data to provide a comprehensive look at how the nation treats preadolescent children who commit serious crimes and offers related recommendations.  http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/news/images/file/From%20Time%20Out%20to%20Hard%20Time-revised%20final.pdf.

BLOGS addressing JLWOP :
Join in the discussion! Post your comments!

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The Foundry Blog: California Legislative Committee votes to re-victimize Victims of violent Teens

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Restorative Justice expert discusses the juvenile justice system

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Georgetown Law Professor blogs against JLWOP

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Debate between victims of juvenile killers on Restorative Justice blog

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A wonderful story telling blog from a victim's sister in Pennsylvania

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Jewish blog addresses life without parole

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San Francisco Chronicle Blogger: "Keep Life Without Parole, Let Killers Repent in Prison"
 

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Google Groups Abolish All JLWOP sentences in the USA
 

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Supreme Court asked to take case of then 13 year old killer sentenced to life
 

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A Voice for Juvenile Prison Reform - contains important national document to the Obama Administration
 

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LawInfo Blog - should juveniles be tried as adults?
 

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Colorado based blog is first in nation we know of calling for the right kind of dialogue with victims and
respecting victims voices in this debate

 

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Massachusetts attorney's blog on sentencing developments
 

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ACSBlog
 

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TalkLeft blog on Nevada's proposed JLWOP legislation
 

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TalkLeft blog on Florida's failed bill on JLWOP
 

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Juvenile Change Blog - should teens accused of murder be tried as adults?
 

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I'm That Chick Blog tells stories of victims and crimes of juveniles who kill and are sentenced to life
 

bullet Virginia's progressive "Democratic Central" on the JLWOP sentence in decline - quotes members of NOVJL
 
bullet Colorado's Compassion in Juvenile Sentencing and a page that references NOVJL and their coverage of Illinois' JLWOP
 
bullet The Socialist Worker Online - Condemning kids to life behind bars
                                                      Article: Living in Hell for Life - full text below and our commentary
bullet "Stolen Boy" interview
 
bullet Huffington Post, "Sentencing Children To Die In Prison" by Marian Wright Edelman
 
bullet "A Voice for Juveniles: Juvenile Justice in the Rest of the World"
 
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A Candidate in Florida discusses the issue in his blog about his race for office and here is his campaign website
 

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The Real Costs of Prisons Blog features an article about Illinois JLWOP that quotes us
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States reconsider life behind bars for youth"
 

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Dahn Batchelor - Pakistan's Abuses of Young Offenders
 

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Children Without Hope
 

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Fix Red Clay, a blog on Education, takes up the dangers of inadequately addressing violent juvenile crime
 

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Canada's Mortons Musings takes up the Juvenile Life sentence
 

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Sentencing Law Blog has many postings on "Juve Life"
 

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Washington Watch blogs about HR 4300
 

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The Public Defender blogs talks about CT Supreme Court ruling upholding JLWOP
 

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Abolish JLWOP Blog at http://abolish-jlwop.blogspot.com/2008/05/juvenile-justice-accountability-and.html
 

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Free Lionel Tate Blog: The Maddie Clifton Saga from Florida
 

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The Modern Child
 

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JusticeWinds Blog - juvenile denied justice and Kids have Rights
 

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NationalCrimeVictimsOrgNetwork - a Yahoo group listserve for victims of crime

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Michigan Children's Law Blog

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Detroit Free Press (Ed Note: the reporter who covers this topic for the DFP is very biased and has a sibling serving JLWOP)

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The Atlantic JLWOP blog and comments

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California Corrections Blog http://cdcr-star.blogspot.com/

 

RELEVANT POLLING DATA

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The Justice Project's polls on JLWOP and sentencing options

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2003 related to the death penalty

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2007 IBID

 

**It it absolutely thoughtless of the victims of these crimes for the NAACP to title this report "No Chance to Make It Right".
For those of us who have had family members murdered, bottom line is there is NEVER a chance to "make it right" after a murder for anyone. Murdered loved ones can not be brought back. No matter the age of the offender. The only "right" possible for many victims is for the offender to serve their sentence without asking the victims families to be further re-traumatized. But further, the implication is that juveniles, or any offender, serving life sentences can't possibly ever redeem themselves while behind bars, and that is not only NOT true, but a horrible thing to say to all prisoners. A great deal of good can be done by offenders from behind bars who are dedicated to doing so. No matter the content of this report by an organization we have tremendous respect for, the title of this report is further evidence of how absolutely out of touch with the victims of these crimes most advocates for the juvenile lifers are around the nation as a whole.

*****Regarding the research paper written by Mr. Roberge, the Stanford student who interviewed Jennifer to get the perspective of someone who favors the JLWOP sentence: we commend this young man's efforts in researching and writing this paper. I enjoyed interviewing with him. No paper of this length and attempting to cover this breadth will do justice to the nuanced position I hold and that is required when thinking about the JLWOP sentence. In general, And I believe that my own position is much more complex and less black and white than I am portrayed - but it is helpful for me to see myself as someone who interviews me sees me. If I have not gotten my message across clearly than I have to work at my message. I don't have the faith in the criminal justice system this portrays. I know it is riddled with error - serious error - and is in need of dramatic reform - as are most human institutions, by the way. I am not primarily an "opponent" of reform to the JLWOP sentence, and in fact am a strong advocate for sweeping criminal justice system reforms. I am primarily an advocate for victims rights of notification and empowerment to be heard in all matters pertaining to their cases.

My message is that the sentence is only appropriate in the most rare of circumstances - when a thorough and PROPER rigorous and honest and just due process of law is given to a case and all agree that likely this sociopath will never qualify for release, then the Human Rights of the victims not to have to be re-injured to the degree that regular parole reviews DO damage them should outweigh any right to review the offender has. And there is the point. There ARE going to be offenders - no matter their age at the time of the crime - that a rigorous and fair justice system will find unable to ever be released. My most progressive and expert friends agree with me about that.

So when you know this is the case, you cannot ethically decide to hurt the victims families over and over and over again for life when you KNOW the killer will never earn release. That is why I am for the sentence - sometimes.

The magnitude of what victims families go through in the re-engagement that comes with parole reviews. And solutions are not addressed in this paper - other than to abolish the sentence which does not really solve the problem and is not at all likely politically. I have tried to seriously address solutions on my website - the transfer mechanism by which juvenile criminals are transferred to adult courts - this should never be mandatory. Those kinds of reforms might actually pass in some states.

But the paper does not address the JLWOP reform movement's refusal to date to find and inform and reach out to the victims families of these crimes in true restorative justice fashion is essential. I know it would take writing a book to cover it all.

More specific comments on this paper to come.
 

Tangentially Related Topical News Articles

National Child Welfare League on the Death Penalty

OJJP Report on Domestic Assaults by Juvenile Offenders

2008 Report on the Teen Murder Rate