Why All Juvenile Life Without the Possibility of Parole Sentences Should be Banned
When the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 ruled that mandatory life without the possibility of parole sentences for juveniles were unconstitutional, they cited several reasons for this decision.
Drawing on brain science, a majority of the justices on the U.S. Supreme Court acknowledged that juveniles have a lesser degree of culpability than do adults and they also said that young people have a greater “capacity for change” than do adults.
But when we were researching and writing our recently-released book “Sentencing Youth to Life in Prison: Justice Denied,” we found an additional reason that was overlooked by the Supreme Court. This other reason why we believe it unfair to sentence juveniles to long prison terms has to do with race.
We discovered that young people who were given life without the possibility of parole sentences have been disproportionately Black. More specifically, here’s what we learned:
● In Michigan, where we live and the state which had the second highest total of all 50 states in terms of people who were juveniles when given life without parole sentences, 73 percent of the more than 350 juvenile lifers were Black.
● Across the U.S., 77 percent of those youth sentenced to juvenile life without parole were African American (only 38 percent of the population in America is African American).
● The disparity between races in juvenile life
sentences in some states is even more striking than in Michigan and in the
country as a whole. For instance, in Pennsylvania, the disparity is dramatic: 80
percent of juvenile lifers are Black. And...
● In Louisiana, the disparity is 81 percent Black versus 19 percent other races.
● In Illinois, it is 82 percent Black;
● In North Carolina, the difference is 89
percent versus 11 percent other races.
What these striking statistics make clear is that juveniles who receive the juvenile life without parole sentences are by and large people of color. This should hardly be surprising for anyone who is familiar with the statistics related to our criminal justice system – especially our juvenile justice system. Juveniles of color and minority juveniles are over-represented at nearly every juncture of the juvenile justice and juvenile court systems.
We know from criminal justice research that African Americans do not commit more crimes than any other race or ethnic group. There is no discrepancy between the amount of crime committed by Blacks or by Whites. The rates are pretty much the same. Consequently, it is a serious injustice to sentence a disproportionate number of Black youth to long prison terms.
Unfortunately, although the Supreme Court banned mandatory life without the possibility of parole sentences for juveniles in 2012, it is still possible for prosecutors to seek life-long sentences for juveniles and for judges to give these unreasonably long terms in prison. However, when Black youth are subjected to the whims and biases of prosecutors and judges, then it is time for all of us to acknowledge that the justice system is deeply flawed and the remedy is to outlaw waivers to adult courts for any person under the age of 18. All juveniles, no matter their crimes, should be retained in the juvenile court.
That’s why juvenile courts were established in the first place.
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