Throwing a Lifeline to Youthful Offenders

The Supreme Court took an important step in the right direction when it barred mandatory sentences of life without parole for juveniles convicted of murder. And the reasoning behind the court's majority opinion underscores the need for this nation to go even further to rescue young people ensnared by the criminal justice system.

To anyone who's lived to tell about their years as a teenager -- or survived being the parent of one -- the court's rationale should be beyond question.

"Mandatory life without parole for a juvenile precludes consideration of his chronological age and its hallmark features -- among them, immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to appreciate risks and consequences," Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the majority, said.

The court's decision stands on an ever-growing mountain of incontrovertible scientific research confirming that the brain continues to develop and change throughout adolescence, and that those parts of the brain governing impulse control, judgment and other characteristics tied to moral culpability don't mature until the early 20s. This presents a powerful argument for states to consider raising the age of criminal responsibility, and to expand already existing legal provisions that take the evolving adolescent brain into account.

While the age of criminal responsibility is 18-years-old in most states -- the Supreme Court decision bars mandatory life terms for juveniles who committed murders before 18 -- it is 17 in others. In North Carolina and New York, courts treat 16-year-olds as adults.

Lamar Sanchez was "18 years and 69 days," as he puts it, when he turned a gun on his girlfriend and killed her in October of 1995. She had pleaded with him to kill her father; he'd finally agreed to ask a friend to do it. Sanchez said he brought the friend to his girlfriend's house, but that the plot went awry. The friend unexpectedly told Sanchez to shoot his girlfriend; he pulled the trigger and killed her. The friend then took the gun to another room and killed the girl's mother and brother; the father was at work. The two took money from the house and escaped. Two days later, Sanchez flagged down a police detective's car. He'd heard that the police were looking for him.

Now 34, Sanchez has spent the last 16 years behind bars. He is serving a sentence of life without parole and will die in prison.

"This was my first offense, but do I say it was a mistake? No," Sanchez said from the yard of the New York State prison where he is confined. "It was a bad decision. It was wrong. But back then, it was like I didn't have a real understanding of my behavior, of what I was doing. It wasn't real. Am I still that person? No. There are people who would say that I would never change. But I've learned a lot of lessons about being mature since then. I was a kid. As a man, I've changed."