Children Deserve Second Chances

TheCFSY

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Tuesday May 24, 2011 · 8:04 PM PDT

2011/05/24 · 20:04

By Pat Nolan, Vice President of Prison Fellowship and Jody Kent Lavy, Director & National Coordinator of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth

Think back to when you were a teenager. Did you do anything that was really stupid? We both certainly did. Over time our thought processes developed and we made better decisions. We cringe now at the thought of how careless we were back then.

Of course, what happened to us is experienced by all young people. Scientists have found that our brains are not fully developed as teens. That means that teenagers don't always make very good decisions. They are more impulsive and have less ability to assess risks than adults. That is why we don't let youngsters drink until they are 21, and they cannot sign contracts or make other legal decisions until they are 18.

However, there is one area where these fundamental differences between young people and adults are not acknowledged: many states' criminal laws. Many of the states allow teenagers to be sentenced to life without parole even if they were as young as 12 or 13 at the time of the crime. There is no doubt that youngsters can make horrible decisions that end up harming others. And they should be held accountable for those acts. But is it just to imprison them for the rest of their lives without at least considering their capacity to mature and improve themselves?

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