Many of Our Youth Are in Prison for Life:

I'm sure most of us are aware of the high number of crimes our youths (boys and girls) are committing all over the U.S., as well as the high number of youth deaths as a result of these violent crimes. I'm also sure most of us have been involved personally in one way or the other with a youth either involved in the legal system, on probation, in a juvenile detention center, in boot camp, in prison or who has lost their life.

Did the U.S. vote against abolishing life imprisonment (without parole) for children and teens because our child criminals are the worst in the world? The Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama (EJI) is a private, non-profit organization providing legal representation to indigent defendants and prisoners denied fair treatment by the system. According to a report produced by the EJI, American prisons are home to 73 children inmates locked up for the rest of their lives for crimes they committed when they were 13 or 14-years old (7 are children of color sentenced for crimes which no one was killed) and 2,225 juvenile inmates locked up for the rest of their lives for crimes they committed when they were 17-years old or younger.

In spite of the seriousness of the crime, some youth confess as a result of duress or from developmental disabilities. They are neglected and deprived in lockdown without hope. EJI's report shows that few of these cases are ever reviewed and the majority of these youth lack good legal representation, if any at all. EJI found that nearly two-thirds of the youth serving these sentences were children of color. Most of them come from violent and dysfunctional backgrounds; have been physically and sexually abused, neglected, and abandoned. They grew up in lethally violent, extremely poor areas where they could not afford the luxury of health and safety. These youth feel police, family courts, child protection agencies, foster systems, and health care providers have failed them. The adult criminal justice system subjects them to mandatory sentencing, ignoring their circumstances and the offense in imposing the harshest sentence available. EJI is calling for these cases to be reviewed and sentences reconsidered. Chances are youth who commit serious crimes have been victims or have witnessed a similar heinous crime.

According to the Equal Justice Coalition, sentencing young children to imprisonment until death violates the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment and is also counter to international conventions. EJI cites the scientific research that has shown the areas of adolescents' brains that govern impulse control regulating emotions, risk assessment, and moral reasoning are all still underdeveloped.

Society has numerous opinions on why our youth commit crimes and go to prison. Surely, society cannot afford to give up on ideas or hope on how to save our youth. Society has a duty to help, guide and nurture our children.

I do believe it depends on the personal decision of the youth as an individual to obey the law or not. After a certain age, they are fully aware of the difference between wrong and right, and how to conduct themselves as law abiding citizens. Society has a duty to make sure each youth stays focused on the right path, seeks spiritual guidance, avoids peer pressure and live life in a manner which will keep them on the outside of prison cells and out of the cemeteries. Adults have to abide by the law or face the consequences; youth are expected to do the same.

The Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama is a private, nonprofit organization that provides legal representation to indigent defendants and prisoners. The EJI study echoes and reinforces the findings of the Children's Defense Fund's Cradle to Prison Pipeline® report, a national call to action to prevent and divert children and youth from a trajectory that leads to marginalized lives, imprisonment and even premature death. EJI's work to draw attention to these children and its nationwide campaign to challenge and end these harsh sentences are valuable contributions to dismantling the Pipeline to Prison. To learn more about the Equal Justice Initiative and their crucial work, visit http://www.eji.org/.