Life Changing Events~*Written By Amber R Riley

Wednesday, September 12, 2012 Life Changing Events~*Written By Amber R Riley Life Changing Events* ~*~ Twists And Turns You never expect There is no guide to see what is next At 16 I wanted to grow up fast Never thought that year was my last Now I'm doing life due to a poor choice of friends Wondering when this nightmare ends. Will I live happy ,finally free? Or will this mistake forever haunt me? I am no saint ,I've done wrong to, How much more must I go through? 10 years of my life,I'm now an adult Waking each day is so difficult I hold on to hope ,make the best of each day. Yet these obstacles will not go away. I fight the state to get my Appeal Sometime of closure for this ordeal The not knowing is the hardest part. Fighting the diespair that lives in my heart. I can't just give up, my parents need me Have my whole life to live,If they ever free me. So many people have lost in this crime, My friend was killed by another I trusted He never thought he would get busted. I was there, but I couldn't tell. Believe me ,I was scared as Hell! Thought he was bluffing until it was to late One stupid choice cost many their fate. To me it all seemed so real, Frozen in place, Not believing this deal. Wish I knew then what was really taking place It could of saved his life and two peoples fate. 16 years old,Not A care in the world, Just hanging out with the guys and the girls Trying drugs and running amuck Never thought I would get stuck. Never thought it could really happen like this Doing life for a crime I didn't commit Written By Amber R. Riley Aug.2012

Youngest Person Sentenced to Death in Indiana

Paula Cooper, Youngest Person Sentenced to Death in Indiana, To Be Released From Prison Posted: June 17, 2013 Paula Cooper, who was 15 years old at the time of her crime, and the youngest person ever sentenced to death in Indiana, will be released from prison on June 17, twenty-seven years after her conviction for the murder of 78-year-old Ruth Pelke. Her case received international attention, sparking a campaign that led to the commutation of her death sentence to 60 years in prison. An appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court received over 2 million signatures from around the world. Pope John Paul II asked that Cooper's sentence be reduced. Bill Pelke, the grandson of Ruth Pelke, forgave and befriended Cooper and wrote a book, Journey of Hope...From Violence to Healing, about his experience with the case. Read more http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/paula-cooper-youngest-person-sentenced-death-indiana-be-released-prison

(Prosecuted in Adult Criminal Court for offenses as Benign as Arriving Late For Class.)

NJJN Member Files Federal Complaint on Behalf of Youth in Dallas School System Three legal advocacy organizations, including NJJN member Texas Appleseed and NJJN partner, the National Center for Youth Law, have filed a civil rights complaint with the Department of Justice on behalf of students in the Dallas County school system. According to Pat Arthur, a youth justice strategist working with Texas Appleseed, students as young as 12 are being prosecuted in adult criminal court for offenses as benign as arriving late for class. And while the offenses may be minor, the consequences, says Arthur, are often huge. Youth in these cases suffer all the consequences of a criminal conviction, including being disadvantaged or barred from employment or getting loans, or joining the military. They've been handcuffed in classrooms and brought to truancy court. It's truly a travesty. These cases, says Arthur, frequently and disproportionately target poor students, students of color, and students with disabilities. It's truly a barbaric system of punishing kids for doing what we all did as kids skipping school or being late, Arthur said. And it's totally ineffective. It's contrary to all the best practices that we know about how to address truancy. I've never seen anything so outrageously wrongheaded. The complaint requests that the truancy system be revised to incorporate a flexible, transparent tardiness policy, greater accommodations for students with disabilities, and school-wide behavioral interventions and supports. http://www.njjn.org/article/texas-member-files-federal-complaint-on-behalf-of-youth-in-dallas- schools? National Juvenile Justice Network | 1319 F St. NW | Suite 402 | Washington | DC | 20004

Massachusetts House Approves Bill to "Raise the Age"

Massachusetts House Approves Bill to "Raise the Age" For First Time since 19th Century In Massachusetts, one could say that raising the age of the juvenile court's jurisdiction has been a long time coming. "We haven't changed the age of jurisdiction for hundreds of years," said Naoka Casey, executive director of Citizens for Juvenile Justice (CfJJ), an NJJN member. That may change soon, however, in light of the Massachusetts House of Representatives' unanimous passage of a bill that would expand juvenile jurisdiction (H. 1432) by moving 17-year-old youth from criminal court jurisdiction to juvenile court. CfJJ has been a driving force behind the bill since the beginning. The organization conducted its own research and outreach campaign, and partnered with system stakeholders most notably the local sheriff's association to gain widespread, bipartisan support for its efforts. "It's not done until it's done," Carey said. "We're close, and I'm going to keep knocking on wood." » Read the full story here.

Missouri Legislature Unanimously Expands Youth Services for Some Teens Tried as Adults

Missouri Legislature Unanimously Expands Youth Services for Some Teens Tried as Adults In the last weeks of May, the Missouri legislature voted unanimously in favor of S.B. 36, making changes in the state's program for youth subject to the dual jurisdiction of adult and juvenile courts. The program allows some youth who have been convicted or pled guilty in adult court to remain in the custody of Missouri's Department of Youth Services (DYS). That means they can be housed in a youth-oriented facility and receive a range of education and counseling services unavailable to adult offenders. The bill, also called "Jonathan's Law," was named for Jonathan McClard, a 17-year-old who was sentenced to 30 years in an adult facility. Tragically, McClard lost hope and took his own life. His mother, Tracy McClard, campaigned hard to get the bill passed. The bill awaits the governor's signature. » Read the full story here.

The New York City Board of Correction voted on Monday to reject a petition to limit solitary confinement in New York City's jails

Board of Correction Votes Against Limiting Solitary Confinement in New York City Jails by Cat Guzman and Jean Casella The New York City Board of Correction (BOC) voted on Monday to reject a petition to limit solitary confinement in New York City's jails. The petition, developed by a grassroots advocacy group called the Jails Action Coalition (JAC), sought to bring sweeping reform to a jail system with one of the highest rates of prison isolation in the country. On Rikers Island, which holds more than 10,000 of the average 13,000 men, women, and children in the city's jails, approximately one in ten individuals is in "punitive segregation" at any given time. Many are placed there for nonviolent misbehavior, including drug use, foul language, and "horseplay." The jail complex includes special punitive isolation units for people as young as 16, and for those with mental and physical disabilities. "Solitary is torture, and its affecting people with mental illness and regular prisoners because it’s so extensive, so out of control, and so unmonitored, said Leah Gitter, a member of JAC who has a family member with mental illness on Rikers Island. Gitter, who was present at Monday's meeting, told Solitary Watch: "We have to have the rules changed in order to make sure that we stop this form of punishment.” The new rules outlined in JAC's petition, if adopted, would have directed the New York City Department of Corrections to end the use of isolated confinement except as a last resort to prevent violent behavior; increased daily out-of cell time for those placed in solitary: and banned altogether the isolation of children, young adults, and people with mental and physical disabilities. The BOC, which makes rules and provides oversight for the city's jails, debated the petition during its public meeting on Monday morning in front of a packed audience that included more than a dozen members of JAC, who held signs reading "We Can't Wait: End Solitary in New York." In the end, the Board elected not to proceed with "rulemaking" in response to the petition, but instead to appoint a committee to study the practice. BOC member Dr. Robert Cohen, a Manhattan physician and expert on prison health and mental health care, vocally supported JAC's petition. He called the use of solitary "dangerous," especially for people with mental illness and adolescents, who are confined in punitive segregation at particularly high rates. During the past three years, the percentage of prisoners languishing in solitary confinement has increased dramatically, without benefit in terms of decreased violence or increased safety on Rikers Island," either for corrections officers or the prisoners themselves. "I have regularly visited solitary confinement areas on Rikers Island," Cohen stated. On any given day, the vast majority of prisoners spend 24 hours a day in their cells, except for brief showers. In the Central Punitive Segregation Unit, the majority of prisoners spend their day lying on the beds, their heads covered by a blanket." Setting rules for the use of isolation, he said, was part of the BOC's statutory responsibility. Read more of this post http://solitarywatch.com/2013/06/07/board-of-correction-votes-against-limiting-solitary-confinement-in-new-york-city-jails/

A second chance for juveniles }From A Public Defender

A second chance for juveniles Posted: 23 May 2013 Think about when you were 14, 15 or even 18 years old. You may have been the jock, the smartypants, the nerd, the weirdo, the hot chick, the best friend or home schooled. Think about the worst thing you did those years. Now imagine that the worst thing you did if it was legal was deemed inappropriate by society. Inappropriate to the tune of 20 years in jail or 30 years or 40 or 60. Or just remember that time you bullied someone or you stole a lipstick or you made fun of a teacher or you took your dad’s car and went for a joyride or you made up stories about that girl because she wouldn’t make out with you. Now, thinking about yourself, do you cringe? Have you spent time over the years wondering who that kid was and being glad that you’re not that anymore? Have you spent any time thinking boy, I was a douche back then, but I’ve grown and changed? We all have. The only difference is that some of us are stuck in jail for extremely long sentences for things we did when we were barely out of middle school. CT mandates that all children above the age of fourteen, charged with serious felonies, are automatically treated as adults and exposed to adult sentences, ranging from maximums of 20 years to 60 years. And there are about 170 people who are currently serving such sentences for things they did between 14-17. A new bill would change that and it just passed the State House of Representatives and heads to the Senate. Basically, the bill does this: it makes all people sentenced when they were between 14 and 17 eligible for parole consideration after they’ve served 60% of their sentence, but only if the sentence is 20 years or greater. Almost all of these crimes are currently not eligible for parole or eligible for parole at 85% of their sentences. So why this different, lower requirement for children? Because they’re children. Because they’d have served longer in prison than their adult counterparts and because their brains aren’t as developed when they’re 14-17, making them less culpable. As the United States Supreme Court said in Miller v. Alabama: Because juveniles have diminished culpability and greater prospects for reform, we explained, “they are less deserving of the most severe punishments.” Graham, 560 U.S., at 130 S.Ct., at 2026. Those cases relied on three significant gaps between juveniles and adults. First, children have a “`lack of maturity and an underdeveloped sense of responsibility,’” leading to recklessness, impulsivity, and heedless risk-taking. Roper, 543 U.S., at 569, 125 S.Ct. 1183. Second, children are more vulnerable. To negative influences and outside pressures, including from their family and peers; they have limited control over their own environment , and lack the ability to extricate themselves from horrific, crime-producing settings. Ibid. And third, a child’s character is not as “well formed” as an adult’s; his traits are “less fixed” and his actions less likely to be “evidence of irretrievable depravity. Id., at 570, 125 S.Ct. 1183. … And this lengthiest possible incarceration is an “especially harsh punishment for a juvenile,” because he will almost inevitably serve “more years and a greater percentage of his life in prison than an adult offender.” Graham, 560 U.S., at ___, 130 S.Ct., at 2028. The penalty when imposed on a teenager, as compared with an older person, is therefore “the same … in name only.” Id., at ___, 130 S.Ct., at 2028. So when that 14 year old child is sitting in a jail cell, 30 years later at the age of 44, someone can bring him out and say: are we punishing the same person? Have you changed? Can we let you out now? Can we treat our children at least somewhat like the children they are when they commit crimes? Or are we that intellectually bereft of nuance that the minute we say the word criminal, we lose sight of all context and character and instead stick blindly to our fear and desire for homogeneity in understanding the other? “Many members are concerned about appearing to be soft on crime, State Senator Eric Coleman] said. Don’t you think we oughta check in on them just once, after we’ve left our kids locked up and warehoused for over a decade or two, to see and say ‘hey, have you learned your lesson yet’? Or do you leave your kids in permanent time-out? apublicdefender.com