CARACTERÍSTICAS SOCIODEMOGRÁFICAS Y CREATIVIDAD

system, regardless of the length of the sentence. Children who are convicted of crimes committed at very young ages should be given an incentive to mature and take responsibility for their actions as well as to prove that they capable of changing. Lengthy sentences without eligibility for parole do not take into consideration a child’s amenability to rehabilitation. States should develop a process that allows for a parole board to review sentences of juveniles ordered to incarceration for substantially long periods. This proposal is consistent with the recent policy recom- mendations of the American Bar Association.290

The following are examples of actions that states are taking to address this issue:

• As of June 2009, seven states and the District of Columbia prohibit juvenile LWOP.

These states are: Alaska, Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, New Mexico, Oregon, and Texas.291

• The Texas Legislature in 2009 eliminated life without parole for anyone under 17,

requiring instead that a juvenile convicted of capital murder serve 40 years before becoming parole-eligible.292

• The Colorado Legislature in 2006 amended its juvenile life without parole law to al- low parole consideration after 40 years in the case of any juvenile tried as an adult.293

• In January of 2008 the California Legislature considered Senate Bill 999, which would

have eliminated life sentences without parole for juveniles who are tried as adults and guaranteed the right to review by a parole board after serving 25 years in prison. Although the bill did not pass, versions of this bill continue to be reconsidered by the legislature.294

• There is proposed legislation in Illinois (House Bill 4384) that would grant 103 people

sentenced as juveniles to life without possibility of parole a chance for a parole hearing and would ban LWOP sentences for future young offenders.295 _{Further, the Illinois Coalition}

for the Fair Sentencing of Children is advocating for policy-makers to pass legislation that

290. Resolution adopted by the ABA House of Delegates, February 2008. See also Report Accompanying Resolution. Online. Available: http://www.adi-sandiego.com/PDFs/ ABA%20Juv%20Sentencing%20Report.pdf. Accessed: July 24, 2008.

291. Michelle Leighton and Connie de la Vega, Sentencing Our Children to Die in Prison: Global Law and Practice (San Francisco, CA: University of San Francisco School of Law, Novem- ber 2007), p. 34. Online. Available: http://www.usfca.edu/law/home/CenterforLawand- GlobalJustice/LWOP_Final_Nov_30_Web.pdf Accessed: March 30, 2008.

292. Texas Senate Bill 839, Texas Legislature, 81st _{Legislative Session (2009) (amending Texas}

Penal Code, sec. 12.31).

293. 2006 Colo. Legis. Serv. Ch. 228 §(2) (H.B. 06-1315) (West).

294. “A Shameful Record,” New York Times, (February 6, 2008) Online. Available: http://www. nytimes.com/2008/02/06/opinion/06wed5.html. Accessed: March 29, 2008.

295. Amanda Paulson, “States Reconsider Life Behind Bars for Youth,” The Christian Science Monitor (March 12, 2008). Online. Available: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0312/ p01s03-usju.html. Accessed: March 29, 2008.

296. Illinois Coalition for Fair Sentencing of Children, Categorically Less Culpable: Children Sentenced to Life without Possibility of Parole in Illinois (Chicago, IL, February 13, 2008). Online. Available at: http://www.law.northwestern.edu/cfjc/jlwop/JLWOP_Report.pdf. Accessed: March 29, 2008. 293. Leslie Reed, “Bill Would Give Youngsters Sentenced to Life in Prison Hope for Parole,” Omaha World Harold (January 11, 2008). Online. Avail- able: http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10228813. Accessed: March 30, 2008.

297. Leslie Reed, “Bill Would Give Youngsters Sentenced to Life in Prison Hope for Parole,”

Omaha World Harold (January 11, 2008). Online. Available: http://www.omaha.com/in- dex/php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10228813. Accessed: March 30, 2008.

298. Rob Dale, “Groups Press Relief for Juvenile Lifers,” Capital News Service (January 25, 2008). Online. Available: http://blog.mlive.com/cns/2008/01/groups_press_relief_for_juveni. html. Accessed: March 30, 2008.

299. H.R. 2289, Juvenile Justice Accountability and Improvement Act of 2009. Online. Available: http://sentencingproject.org/userfiles/file/inc_hr2289.pdf. Accessed: June 30, 2009. 300. Categorically Less Culpable, p. 22.

would set the maximum time a child would serve before eligibility for parole as the age of the child at the time of his or her offense plus one year.296

• The Nebraska Legislature is considering legislation that would allow offenders con- victed of murder before their 18th _{birthday to be considered for parole after serving}

25 years and those convicted of murder before their 16th _{birthday to be eligible for}

parole after serving 20 years.297

• Michigan lawmakers in both the House and Senate are considering legislation to pro- hibit sentencing juveniles to life in prison without parole and to provide parole eligi- bility for the 306 inmates serving life terms for crimes they committed while under the age of 18. These bills were introduced in 2007 and remain under review.298

In addition, Congress is considering legislation that would effectively ban juvenile life without parole across the country.299

Importantly, providing serious youthful offenders with an opportunity for parole does not suggest that the individual will or should be granted parole at any specified date. In- stead, the opportunity for parole simply indicates that the child would have the chance at some point in the future to demonstrate that they have been rehabilitated and no longer present a risk to public safety. Children sentenced to life without the possibility of parole report they feel helpless and often consider suicide because it is a daily struggle to find some purpose to their lives when they know there is no hope of ever leaving the prison facility.300 _{Similarly, a child like Christopher Pittman, incarcerated since the age of 12} and serving a 30-year sentence without possibility of parole, needs to see some realis- tic benefit from his years of good behavior in prison. The possibility of parole provides incarcerated youth a sense of hope and the motivation to exhibit good behavior while working towards rehabilitation so they can become functioning members of society.

Policy recommendations

85

8. Young children in the adult criminal justice