NCJ Number
221400
Date Published
January 2008
Length
104 pages
Annotation
This publication presents an overview of youth sentenced to life without parole in California.
Abstract
Approximately 227 youth have been sentenced to die in California's prisons. They have not been sentenced to death, because the death penalty was found unconstitutional for juveniles by the United States Supreme Court in 2005. Instead, these young people have been sentenced to prison for the rest of their lives, with no opportunity for parole and no chance for release for a crime committed while teenagers. Many of the adults who were codefendants received lower sentences and will one day be released from prison. In the United States, at least 2,380 people are serving life without parole for crimes they committed when they were under the age of 18. In the rest of the world, just seven people are known to be serving a sentence for crimes committed when they were juveniles. Although 10 other countries have laws permitting life without parole, in practice, most do not use a sentence for those under age 18. International law prohibits the use of life without parole for those who are not yet 18 years old. This report provides recommendations, narrative on teenagers sentenced to die in California prisons and why youth are serving life without parole in California; summaries of actual cases called unjust results; psychological portraits of inmates in their late teens and early 20s; a section describing life inside prison; the financial cost of sentencing youth to life without parole; the perspectives of victims; and what those serving life without parole want to say to the families of the victims. This report is based on data from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation obtained in April 2007, as well as Human Rights Watch's media and court records searches, in-person interviews, and a survey of people in California serving life without parole for crimes committed under the age of 18. Tables, appendices