2,100 Kids Sentenced to Life Could Get a Second Chance

Edwin Desamour has dedicated his adult life to keeping kids in Philadelphia out of prison. He is a loving father and the founder of a successful nonprofit that mentors at-risk youths. Yet at 16, he was convicted of homicide. Because he was spared the death penalty or a life without parole sentence, Desamour had a chance to rejoin his community after eight and half years in prison—and he has been wildly successful.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court said it would take on a case that could give more people like Desamour a chance to reinvent themselves and evolve beyond the moment that put them behind bars at a young age. This fall, the court will hear arguments on whether juveniles sentenced to life without parole should be resentenced. Their decision could impact as many as 2,100 people who received such sentences prior to a 2012 decision by the court that determined mandatory life without parole sentences for children who were “cruel and unusual,” in violation of the constitution. The justices will consider the Louisiana case of Henry Montgomery, who murdered a police officer just after his 17th birthday and was sentenced to life in prison in 1963. The question is whether or not individuals impacted by these harsh mandatory sentences before the law changed should now be able to seek a chance at release.

The court’s 2012 decision in Miller v. Alabama was a big step for advocates working to end life without parole sentences for youths. But they have since urged the court to take up the issue of whether or not the decision should apply retroactively to people who were sentenced before 2012. Meanwhile, individual states have taken it upon themselves to decide how to apply Miller. Just last week, Florida’s supreme court joined nine other states that have decided in favor of retroactively applying the law, which means prisoners in those states who were sentenced to life as youths can petition for resentencing. 

Original article from TakePart