NCYL and Human Rights Watch co-sponsored California Senate Bill 399, which would have given juveniles sentenced to life without parole the opportunity to have their cases reconsidered. The bill was authored by Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo), and co-authored by Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), Sen. Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), and Assembly Member Felipe Fuentes (D-Sylmar).

In its last version, the bill would have allowed juvenile offenders sentenced to life without parole to petition for a review of their cases after serving 15 years. A court could then reduce the sentence to 25 years with the possibility of parole.

The review could be granted only if the petitioner met one of four criteria. The criteria include that the youth was not the actual killer, had no prior convictions for assault or a violent crime, committed the crime with an adult, and had earned a clean record in prison. The bill also recommended several factors for the court to take into consideration, including whether the petitioner had experienced trauma as a child and whether he or she had demonstrated remorse.

The bill was originally introduced in 2009 and was passed in the Senate with bi-partisan support. It was then defeated in the Assembly Public Safety Committee. When the bill was reintroduced, it passed the Assembly Public Safety Committee on Jan. 12, 2010 by a vote of 4-2. SB 399 then went to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, where it was passed on June 30, 2010. It failed on a vote before the full Assembly on Aug. 30, 2010.

Supporters of SB 399 included the California Catholic Conference of Bishops, California Correctional Peace Officers Association, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the Bar Association of San Francisco, and the Los Angeles County Bar Association.

There are more than 250 individuals in California sentenced to die in prison for crimes they committed as adolescents. California has the worst record in the nation for racial disparity in the imposition of life without parole sentences on juveniles.

For more information, please contact:
Tracy Schroth, National Center for Youth Law
510-835-8098 x3013, tschroth(at)youthlaw.org