End UNCONSTITUTIONAL "Juvenile Life Without Parole" sentencing
- by: Angel Hernandez
- recipient: PA State Governor, Tom Wolf
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that sentencing juveniles to "life without parole" is unconstitutional. In recognizing this new rule, many states such as Wyoming, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Illinois, Mississippi, Iowa, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Texas and Florida, have adopted it and made the rule retroactive as it should be. Meanwhile, some states such as Pennsylvania and Louisiana have been wrongfully sending children to prison for life for many years now and refuse to follow the order of the U.S. Supreme court. The state of Pennsylvania instead wants to "correct the problem" by adopting the new rule on new cases leaving the past ones to suffer the consequences of the legal blunders of our Department of Justice.
Obviously if the sentencing process is unconstitutional for the new offenders, it has been and still is, for the previous ones as well, and no technicality or loophole can change that fact. We the people must demand that our criminal justice system abide by the U.S. Constitution when applying the law, and if that means going back to fix the careless mistakes of the past then that's what they will need to do if justice is to be upheld.
This issue creates an excessively punitive load onjuvenile offenders who could possibly be reformed through propper punishment and/or counseling. To put it in other words, juvenile life without parole is the equivalent of suspending a young teen's driving privileges for life simply because they got into an accident while learning to drive.
We are better than that and we must stand united to demand the courts reflect our approach and resolve regarding the unconstitutional practice of juvenile life witout parole.
For an in depth look at the way this issue affects the lives of children affected please click on the link below. It's a 46 page PDF which although lengthy, comprises a list of cases that paint a vivid picture of the miscarriage of justice that juvenile life sentencing without parole forces upon our youth.
http://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Montgomery_EJI-Amcius.pdf
It's time justice is applied retroactively to bring equal justice to all and not only those cases going forward. It's time Miller vs. Alabama is applied retroactively nationwide. Until it is, our legal justice system is nothing more than an expensive un-justice system.
To: Honorable Tom Wolf
Dear Governor Wolf:
The United States Constitution has been sustaining heavy fire over the past several years due to a lack of our support, and our failure to exercise our duty to protect it. Similarly, our youth has been negligently left in the hands of a judicial system that was originally designed for adults, and the price so far has been unbearable. It's time we stand united in this fight for justice, and in doing so we can simultaneously protect our Constitution. Please join us in demanding that America's state courts abide by the United States' Constitution and make Miller vs. Alabama retroactive thereby ending Juvenile "life without parole" sentencing.
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