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On Scene: Juvy lifer debate at City Hall
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On Scene: Juvy lifer debate at City Hall
The Juvenile Lifer debate hit City Hall Wednesday morning, and you're not missing much if all you've read on the subject is our reports over the past year. Yesterday's House Judiciary Committee public hearing, held in City Hall's chamber room, broached — as advocates and lawyers and crime victims and, most recently, the Supreme Court have broached for decades — the propriety of sentencing a minor to life without parole.
(For the purposes of the argument, a âminorâ is âsomeone who commits a crime while under the age of 18.â The phrase âjuvenile life without paroleâ is too clunky and therefore regularly shortened to âJLWOP,â pronounced âjail-wop.â)
Pennsylvania has more juvenile lifers than any other state in the country — about 400 — and that stat gets repeated ad nauseum when you attend these kinds of meetings.
The hearing yesterday came in response to the House Bill 1999, introduced by Rep. Kenyatta Johnson, D-Phila., which would abolish JLWOP and give all juvenile offenders, even murderers, a shot at parole after 15 years. Under current state law, there are only two sentencing options for minors convicted of homicides: sentencing as a juvenile (rare) and given freedom at 21, or sentenced as an adult, and given freedom never. Johnson's bill would give some wiggle room to judges and prosecutors: If someone turned out to be a Satan incarnate (hello, Charles Manson), parole boards could turn them down, and they'd stay in prison for the rest of their lives. But at least they'd have a chance to redeem themselves.
Yesterday's meeting was covered sufficiently enough by the Daily News and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Both reporters focused — as daily newspaper reporters are wont to do — on both sides of the JLWOP argument:
1) âKids are different,â as Bradley Bridge wrote in his appeal for the longest-serving inmate in Pennsylvania's correctional system, Joseph Ligon, now 73. This side implies that minors are not mature enough — emotionally or psychologically — to be held accountable for adult prison sentences.
2) âSo what?â Victims of violent crimes — and the families of crime victims — are still victims whether the person who committed the violent crime was a kid or not.
Those sides don't get at the complexity of the JLWOP issue in Pennsylvania, obviously. For one thing, Pennsylvania subscribes to the âfelony murder rule,â meaning that if someone is killed in the commission of a felony, everyone involved in the felony is eligible for a mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of parole — whether or not the homicide was intended, and whether or not a person or group of people pulled the trigger or not. (Party to a drug deal gone bad? Life for you, mister.)
That's just one aspect. In fact, I'm not even scratching the surface. It's probably worthwhile to look over some of the testimonies given to the House Judiciary Committee, posted below. They give some incredible depth of perspective: from victims who have incurred heartbreaking sadness at the hands of violent kids, to advocates who work with men who are growing into middle age in prison because they made stupid decisions while they were in junior high or high school.
Worth a look:
From the Office of the Victim Advocate (against HB 1999)
From the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (for HB 1999)
From the Pennsylvania District Attorney's Association (against):
From Don Romig (against):
From Cully Stimson (against):
From Bradley Bridge (who did not testify, but is for HB1999):
From Anita Colon (for )
From Alyce C. Thompson
From Carol Lavery (against)
From Juandalynn Taylor (for)
From The Sentencing Project (for)
From the Juvenile Law Center (for)
From the Pennsylvania Prison Society (for)
From the National Organization of Victims of Juvenile Lifers (against)
From Dottie Moquin (HB1999)
Thank you Matt, For covering all the different aspects of the hearings. There is no doubt there is a great deal of pain and suffering on both the victim and offender's family in these situations. Any changes that are made, should include all of the positions that Representative Johnson invited to the hearings.
Juvenile lifers should receive a chance to redeem themselves. I am tired of my tax dollars going to programs and institutions which do not work. Prisioning juvenile to Life has NOT deterred crime. For HB 1999
How about punishing the ones who have committed crimes. Sure, we would want people to be afraid of committing crimes because they see others incarcerated. But there are always those who do not care and commit crimes. Best to keep the ones already incarcerated than to put them out in the streets where you say others continue to commit crimes. Keep as many off the streets as possible.
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