Learn more about NCYL's work to ban Juvenile Life Without Parole
The Assembly Public Safety Committee has approved SB 399, which would give juveniles sentenced to life without parole the opportunity to have their cases reconsidered after serving 10 years. A court could then reduce the sentence to 25 years with the possibility of parole.
The January 12 vote on the bill was the second for the Committee, which rejected the bill last year after it had cleared the Senate with bi-partisan support. This time, the bill passed by a vote of 4-2. Co-sponsored by NCYL and Human Rights Watch, SB 399 now goes to the Assembly Appropriations Committee and, if approved, to the full Assembly.
If it becomes law, SB 399 will allow any juvenile sentenced to life without parole to petition the court for a sentencing review after serving a minimum of 10 years. The review can be granted only if the petitioner meets at least three of eight specific criteria. The criteria include that the youth was not the actual killer, had no prior convictions for assault or a violent crime, has demonstrated remorse, and has earned a clean record in prison. A juvenile’s sentence could then be reduced to 25 years with a chance at parole.
Supporters of SB 399 include the California Catholic Conference of Bishops, California Correctional Peace Officers Association, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, San Francisco Bar Association, and the Los Angeles 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.
SB 399 is 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 Filipe Fuentes (D-Sylmar).
Pending US Supreme Court Cases: Sullivan and Graham
On November 9, 2009, the US Supreme Court heard arguments in the cases of Joe Sullivan and Terrance Graham, both sentenced in separate cases to life without parole. The Court must determine whether the sentences, for non-homicide offenses, violate the prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. Sullivan was 13 and Graham was 17 when they committed their crimes. A decision will be issued by the Supreme Court some time between January and June 2010.
In 2005, in Roper v. Simmons, the Supreme Court struck down the use of the death penalty to punish youth for crimes committed under the age of 18. In that case, the Court recognized for the first time that by virtue of their age and stage of development, youth are categorically less culpable than adults and, therefore, should not be sentenced to death. The Sullivan and Graham cases now offer the Court the opportunity to address whether it is likewise cruel punishment to sentence a child to die in prison for a non-homicide offense, given the developmental immaturity and inherently reduced level of culpability of youthful offenders.
Read the January 14 LA Times Editorial.
