Federal Judge Orders Michigan to Give Juvenile Lifers a Chance for Parole

By |

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered that the 350 Michigan prisoners serving life sentences for crimes committed as juveniles should be given a chance at parole. The ruling comes nearly a year and half after the landmark June 2012 Supreme Court decision that mandatory life without parole sentences for juveniles are unconstitutional. Yesterday’s ruling by U.S. District Judge John O’Meara gives Michigan until Jan 31, 2014, a little more than two months, to decide on a plan for giving the state’s juvenile lifers a "fair, meaningful and realistic" opportunity for parole. Children’s advocates welcomed the ruling, but Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said parole hearings would only hurt the families of the victims.
“In every case where a juvenile is sentenced to life in prison, a victim was already sentenced to death — forever,” Schuette said through a spokesperson. The ruling, he added, would “re-victimizing these families through unnecessary hearings.”

Nation’s Largest School Police Force, in L.A., Will Stop Ticketing Kids 12 and Younger

By |

Responding to demand for reforms, the nation’s largest school police force — in Los Angeles — will stop issuing tickets to students 12-years-old or younger for minor infractions allegedly committed on or near campuses during school hours. A memo this month to officers from Los Angeles Unified School Police Department Chief Steven Zipperman outlined the new policy, which goes into effect in December. The announcement comes in the wake of community demands for the school district to “decriminalize” minor school disciplinary matters and use more discretion when involving law enforcement personnel.

John Lash

Too Many of Our Kids Up Against a Stacked Deck

By |

The woman, a grandmother, was telling me about her two grandsons, aged four and five, “I’m afraid for them, and they are just little boys.”
She was explaining how, as boys will, they tussled and played rough sometimes. One of them was a little “hyper,” but they were both good kids. The boys’ mom was raising them with the help of the grandmother, and both were invested in bringing the boys up to excel in school and in life. The grandmother was worried that their rambunctiousness might be labeled as inappropriate and the boys could already be going off the tracks. Why was she so concerned?