Emerging Adults
The Center for Native American Youth (CNAY) at the Aspen Institute released a report detailing survey results of nearly one thousand Native youth on their needs and priorities across issues that matter most to them. This survey was built and disseminated by Native youth leaders who worked in partnership with CNAY staff to practice and…
The evidence provided in this brief supports bold reforms for youth and emerging adults sentenced to extreme punishments.
This amicus brief from American Academy of Pediatric Neuropsychology, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, the Gault Center, and others argues there is no reasonable, scientific basis for drawing the line for adolescence at age 18, and therefore protections from Comer (including reconsideration of lengthy sentences for homicide offenses committed by individuals under 18) should extend to young people who were 18 to 20 years old. Additionally, the brief…
From the executive summary: “YEAH (Youth Empowerment for Advancement Hangout) is a community-based organization working to empower, advocate for, and meet the needs of young people ages 15 to 24 based in West and Southwest Philadelphia. Kendra Van de Water and James Aye co-founded YEAH in 2018 to address the stark lack of safe, culturally…
This amicus brief from the Center for Law, Brain, and Behavior highlights the adolescent capacity for significant growth and social maturation as well as criminological evidence on the unlikelihood of reoffending and responsiveness to evidence-based treatment among youth accused of sex offenses. The brief ultimately calls for the court to find that a de facto life without parole sentence is grossly disproportionate based on developmental science and research. From the Summary of Argument: “Evan McCarrick Jerald is…
This report presents the evolution of the second look movement, which started with ensuring compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions in Graham v. Florida (2010) and Miller v. Alabama (2012) on the constitutionality of juvenile life without parole (“JLWOP”) sentences.12 This reform has more recently expanded to other types of sentences and populations, such…
This paper is part of the Series on Learning from Civil Rights Lawsuits from the Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse and focuses on parole review procedures for individuals serving long sentences for crimes committed under age 18, discusses constitutional dimensions of parole review for this group, and proposes model policies supporting a meaningful opportunities for release. From the Executive Summary: “In recent years, people serving…
A brief timeline of states banning juvenile life without parole.
Written Testimony of BJ Casey and Leah Somerville to the US Sentencing Commission
Written testimony by BJ Casey, Ph.D. and Leah H. Somerville, PhD submitted to the US Sentencing Commission. The testimony argues that brain and behavioral development continues well into a person’s twenties.
This written testimony from Elizabeth Cauffman, Ph.D. and Arielle Baskin-Sommers, Ph.D. discusses what developmental science says about the impact of brain development on adolescent risk taking, decision making, and susceptibility to social and peer influence as it relates to a young person’s culpability. The testimony also provides information on diversion and its impact on lower recidivism and improved public safety. Below is an excerpt from…
From the abstract: “Contemporary scholarship has demonstrated the negative effects of incarcerating juveniles in adult facilities, coinciding with a growing concern about the long-lasting effects of this practice in the United States. The current study served to expand this literature by examining the effects of being incarcerated in an adult facility as a juvenile on…
From the executive summary: “• Police increasingly replace stop-and-frisk practices with databases that crudely profile Black and Latinx youth based on their neighborhoods, peer groups, and clothing. • These databases ruin lives: police typecast minority youths as gang members without evidence, putting them at risk of false arrest and wrongful deportation. • Many police departments…
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