Sarah Kruzan Sentence

Juvenile Life Without Parole: This is one of the issues of our time. Here in Illinois we have more than 100 people currently in prison serving this sentence. While the majority are for murder convictions, there are also many for other crimes like driving a get-away care, or serving as a look out. In all cases they were convicted as children and the system has determined that they will never change and are beyond hope, even though medical science is clear in their estimation that a child’s brain has not fully developed as a teenager, and as a result is prone to bad decisions. Keep in mind that those of us that are working to remove this punishment from our legal code are not trying to remove punishment for these crimes, but merely trying to assure the courts/prisons recognize that these children will change as they grow older and that they should at the very least be considered for parole at a reasonable future date.

For more information on the effort in Illinois, check out the Illinois Coalition for Fair Sentencing for Children by clicking here.