Posted on Tue, Feb. 27, 2007
Bill seeks to bar life in prison for young
By Steve Geissinger
SACRAMENTO - A lawmaker who was a Bay Area school psychologist said Monday he is proposing that young first-degree murderers no longer face life sentences without parole, even if the homicide involved "special circumstances" such as gang slayings, police killings or hate killings.
The measure by Democratic state Sen. Leland Yee of San Francisco, who wants to see rehabilitation for those who make mistakes at an early age, comes as the governor and Legislature are facing an array of problems with sentencing laws and overcrowded prisons.
But a Yee aide said SB999, which would alter crime-fighting Proposition 115, approved 17 years ago by voters is independent of other reform efforts.
Children's rights advocates said the measure would bring California closer to universal justice standards while victims' rights groups attacked it as a step backward in anti-crime efforts.
Yee's legislation, the California Juvenile Life Without Parole Reform Act, would amend the penal code so that anyone under 18 who commits murder with "special circumstances" could not be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
Judges could still sentence them to 25 years to life, but with the possibility of parole.
"Special circumstance" murders include previous homicides; gang killings; hate slayings; the use of bombs that could have killed others; murdering police officers, firefighters, judges, prosecutors, and court witnesses; and homicides committed during violent crimes, ranging from rape and kidnapping to carjacking and child molesting.
Yee, who received a doctorate in child psychology from the University of Hawaii, said in a statement that "children have an extraordinary capacity for rehabilitation."
If an unwanted twist developed -- such as hate groups or gangs using the new law as an incentive to pressure those under 18 into murdering -- the scenario is still an argument for passage of the bill, supporters said.
"There's certainly that chance and it justifies the need for this bill because it shows how susceptible they (youths) are because their brain has not been fully developed," said Yee spokesman Adam Keigwin.
"It's yet another reason why someone like that is so vulnerable to something like this and should be able to be granted rehabilitation services," Keigwin said.
Harriet Salarno, president of Crime Victims United of California, opposes Yee's bill.
"These are very, very violent offenders we're talking about and there are some people who can't be rehabilitated," Salarno said. "It's just so black and white. This is not good for California."
But those who believe some youths have been wronged by California's justice system support the bill.
"As a society we've learned a lot since the time we started using life without parole for children," said Elizabeth Calvin of Children's Rights Advocates.
Michelle Leighton of the Center for Law and Global Justice at the University of San Francisco said California "is out of step with international standards of justice."
The bill would require a two-thirds vote in the Legislature since it would amend a voter initiative.
California Takes Step to End Life Without Parole for Children
Subcommittee Approves Senate Bill 999
(Los Angeles, April 17, 2007) – The California Senate's Public Safety Committee today took an important first step toward giving child offenders a chance to earn their freedom by passing the Juvenile Life Without Parole Reform Act (Senate Bill 999), Human Rights Watch said.
The committee voted three to two in favor of SB 999, which would eliminate life without parole sentencing for offenders under age 18 and would instead impose a sentence of 25 years to life, giving them access to a parole after 25 years if they show convincing evidence of rehabilitation.
Human Rights Watch and a wide range of supporting organizations and individuals across the state called upon the full Senate and Assembly in California to pass SB 999. The bill requires a two-thirds majority to become law in the state.
"The California Senate's Public Safety Committee has shown true leadership in balancing the need for accountability with a child's right to rehabilitation," said Elizabeth Calvin, children's rights advocate for Human Rights Watch. "If SB 999 becomes law, California's child offenders serving life without parole will have an incentive to rehabilitate themselves."
A recent nationwide report by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, "The Rest of Their Lives: Life without Parole for Child Offenders in the United States," highlighted the impact of imprisoning child offenders with no chance of parole. It found that, in California, youth offenders serving life without parole sentences in adult prisons receive little education or positive training because rehabilitative programs are reserved for inmates with some chance of leaving prison one day.
Alison Parker, author of the report and senior researcher in the US Program of Human Rights Watch testified at today's Senate Committee hearing in Sacramento. She explained that recent data obtained from California's Department of Corrections reveal that California currently has 227 child offenders serving life without parole in prisons throughout the state.
"Even children convicted of crimes that cause terrible suffering can turn their lives around," said Parker. "California's child offenders must be held
accountable for their crimes, but they also deserve a chance to rehabilitate themselves."
Also testifying at the hearing was Father James Tramel, who spent more than 20 years in prison for a murder he was convicted of at age 17. Tramel
was sentenced to life with, rather than without, the possibility of parole.
"I was held accountable for my crime, but the hope of parole helped me to profoundly change the direction of my life," said Tramel, who is rector at
Trinity Episcopal Church in San Francisco. "All children should have the chance to prove they have changed. As a community, we are deeply diminished when we are willing to say by force of law that a child is beyond hope of redemption."
Dr. Elizabeth Cauffman, a professor of psychology and social behavior at the University of California, Irvine, testified about adolescent development.
Human Rights Watch reported that racial disparities are pronounced in California's sentencing of young people to life without parole. Black youths are serving this sentence at a rate 20 times higher than white youths, which means that California ties with Pennsylvania for having the worst ratio of disparity in the nation. Hispanic youths in California are serving the sentence at a rate five times that of whites.
The United States is one of a few countries in the world that sentences children to life in prison without the possibility of parole. There are 2,270
child offenders serving life without parole sentences in US prisons. An estimated 59 percent of these are first-time offenders. In all other countries
combined worldwide, there are only about 12 youth offenders serving a sentence of life without parole.
