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Issues in Criminal Justice (JF)
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Justice Fellowship Responds to Editorial on Juvenile Life without Parole |
Children are different from adults and should be treated differently.
The Washington Times recently published an editorial saying that harsh sentences for youthful offenders should not be declared unconstitutional. In a letter to the editor, Justice Fellowship responded that children are different from adults and pointed out that many kids are not raised knowing what is morally right and wrong.
Justice Fellowship is joined by several other faith-based groups and juvenile justice organizations in calling on the Court to find the sentence cruel and unusual according to the Eighth Amendment and, therefore, to ban it.
At least 135 countries have expressly rejected life sentences for juveniles, and although 10 other nations do allow such sentences in theory, no children are currently serving them.
A United Nations treaty that forbids the imprisonment of children without parole has been signed by all countries except the United States and Somalia. Approximately 111 children in the United States are serving life without parole sentences.
Read the Washington Times editorial here. Read the letter to the editor here.
For more information, visit the Justice Fellowship Juvenile Justice resource page. |
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