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Life sentences for juveniles is cruel and unusual punishment

By Christian Science Monitor, on 01.03.19 Word Count 705 Level 860L

Washington state's Supreme Court barred the state from sentencing 16- and 17-year-old murder defendants to life in prison without the possibility of parole, saying the sentence violates the state Constitution's ban on cruel punishment. It is the latest in a growing number of states to rethink juvenile sentences. Photo by Ted S. Warren/AP Photo

Growing up in Chicago, Illinois, Marshan Allen says he faced a tough choice. As a teen, he could go to class or help his older brother. The problem was that his brother was selling drugs, like many people in that part of Chicago in the 1990s.

"I was surrounded by cocaine," he says. His mother, his uncle and his neighborhood were involved with the drug, he says. "My older brother James began selling drugs, and I was doing chores for him to make extra money."

One day in March 1992, he stole a van. Two of his brother's friends drove it during a drug deal. They ended up killing two teenagers. Allen stayed in the van during the killing, court papers say, but he was still convicted on two counts of murder. That's because of the legal idea that someone helping in a crime could be sentenced to the same crime as the main offender.

Sentenced To Life In Prison At Age 15

The judge sentenced Allen to life in prison without a chance of parole. Parole is when a prisoner is released before their sentence in prison is finished. However, they are let out with the expectation that they will behave well. He was 15 years old when he was sentenced.

"I was crying like a baby," Allen says. "I should be held accountable for my crime, but I didn't think that specific sentence was fair."

Later, the United States Supreme Court agreed. It is the highest court in the country. In 2012, the court ruled in a similar case that requiring life sentences for youths was against the law. Elena Kagan is a Supreme Court justice. She wrote that the youngest offenders have a greater chance of turning their lives around.

Changes In Youth Sentencing In States

This ruling was followed by a 2016 decision that applied the case to all of the youth cases like it. Thousands of inmates were up for sentence changes. Experts say it helped begin changes in youth sentencing in states.

"States are rolling back the mistakes of the 1980s and 1990s," says Joshua Rovner. He works for The Sentencing Project in Washington, D.C. States see that when young people make mistakes, they can still change, he says.

Now, 21 states and the District of Columbia keep judges from sentencing youths to life without release. The most recent is Washington state. Its Supreme Court found in October that the sentence went against the law.

Second Chances

This is part of a movement that pushes away from incarceration in the juvenile system. It focuses instead on second chances. Especially as more is learned about how young minds develop until age 25.

Marc Schindler leads the Justice Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. He says we've made prison a normal thing. Sending young people away, especially kids of color, wasn't considered unusual, he says. Recently, youth courts have gone from punishment to more treatment, he says.

One state that made changes was Missouri. About 30 years ago, it started replacing youth prisons with treatment centers and places to live in Missouri's state parks. Now it has one of the lowest rates of youths returning to prison in the country.

There's also a push for young adults to be able to get therapy. Connecticut, South Carolina and the District of Columbia are offering treatment for prisoners between 18 and 24 years old.

"There are people who think that the criminal justice system can solve problems that it isn't able to," said Rovner. They believe that you can just lock people up, but that doesn't work, he said.

In Illinois, Allen spent 24 years, eight months and two days behind bars. Then the Supreme Court ruling allowed him to earn his release. He was freed in 2017. While being held, he got his high school certificate, a business management certificate and an associate college degree.

Now, he works for the Restore Justice Foundation in Chicago. He is pushing to pass a bill. It would give chances for release for children facing sentences longer than 10 years. "It was a great feeling to come home and be out of that place and know I was able to start my life over again," he says.

Text Dependent Questions

1. Why did Marshan Allen feel upset after he got his jail sentence?

A) because he thought that he should not be punished at all since he had committed no crime

B) because he thought that his older brother should be the one going to jail instead of him

C) because he thought the life sentence was way too harsh for the crime that he committed as a kid

D) because he was wrongly accused of stealing a van that he was sitting in when a crime occurred

2. What caused Allen to become part of the Restore Justice Foundation?

A) He wanted to provide kids in prison more types of therapy treatments.

B) He wanted to pass a bill that would help him get released from prison.

C) He wanted to have a chance to get a high school diploma and a degree.

D) He wanted to help kids with longer prison sentences get out earlier.

3. This article is mostly organized using problem and solution.

Why do you think the author chose to organize the information this way?

to describe events that led some young prisoners to decide that they wanted to change their lives and get an education

A) to explain how Marshan Allen proved that he was not guilty of a crime and how he was able to get released from jail in 2017

B) to show that court decisions and groups have been working to correct the unfair youth sentencing practices of the past

C) to highlight how effective therapy treatments have been in keeping young kids from doing crimes and ending up in jail

4. Read the article's introduction [paragraphs 1-3] and the final section “Second Chances." What is one connection between these two sections?

A) The introduction describes the events that led to Allen's life sentence, while the final section shows what led to his release.

B) The introduction describes how Allen felt about his life sentence as a kid, while the final section shows how he feels about it today.

C) The introduction explains laws that help young people in prison, while the final section shows how those laws helped Allen.

D) The introduction explains a crime that the friends of Allen's brother committed, while the final section shows what they are doing now.

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