To Apply Retroactive Ban on Mandatory Life Without Parole for Juveniles
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON DC Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Crime Terrorism Homeland Security and Investigations released the following statement today applauding the United States Supreme Court decision to retroactively apply the ban on mandatory life without parole for juveniles:
I applaud the U.S. Supreme Courts ruling today in Montgomery v. Louisiana that acknowledges and gives hope to the thousands of inmates that were sentenced as children to life without the possibility of parole (LWOP). The Courts ruling applies retroactively its 2012 decision in Miller v. Alabama which struck down mandatory life imprisonment without parole for juveniles as cruel and unusual punishment.
Despite this 2012 ruling many states failed to grant retroactive review of juvenile LWOP sentences. Failure to do so has prevented thousands of inmates who committed crimes as teenagers like Henry Montgomery from demonstrating that they have since transformed into adulthood and rehabilitated themselves over years and decades while in prison. Todays ruling makes clear that Miller v. Alabama must be applied retroactively to give such inmates a chance to show they have changed. As stated by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy who wrote the 6-3 decision prisoners like Montgomery must be given the opportunity to show their crime did not reflect irreparable corruption; and if it did not their hope for some years of life outside prison walls must be restored.
Todays decision is yet another monumental step in achieving just and humane treatment for justice involved youth. We have come a long ways in learning about the brain development of children and adolescents and the instructive need to consider their foreseeable ability to grow and change. However we have far to go in implementing and applying what we have learned to ensure that we are treating our youth as the young still developing persons they are. My youth justice reform bills aim to do exactly that.
Collectively the RAISE Act-H.R. 3158 Fair Chance for Youth Act-H.R. 3156 and Effective and Human Treatment of Youth Act-H.R. 3155 each provide critical intervention at several key points along a young persons path into and out of the justice system. While each bill takes into consideration the unique characteristics of children and their innate ability to reform I am pleased to know that an integral provision of my RAISE Act to end mandatory LWOP for youth charged with federal offenses is directly in line with todays Supreme Court decision.
At their roots my youth justice bills and the Courts decision are about humanity and redemption. If we cannot allow for the redemption of our children and if we cannot treat our children in a fair just and humane manner then we simply have nothing left. We must not let go of our hope in humanity. And as we continue towards the path of comprehensive and effective reform we must all do our part to ensure that the criminal and juvenile justice system is fairer and delivers equal justice to all persons."
Congresswoman Jackson Lee is a Democrat from Texass 18th Congressional District. She is a senior member of the House Committees on Judiciary and Homeland Security and is Ranking Member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime Terrorism Homeland Security and Investigations.
