juvenile incarceration
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The Jurors Who Sentenced Brandon Bernard Say He Shouldn't Die. He's Still Scheduled to Be Executed
Five out of nine surviving jurors who condemned Brandon Bernard to death at the age of 18 say they regret their decision. So, too, does the prosecutor who tried him, saying now that she finds it “morally, ethically and legally” wrong to execute him. But last Wednesday, an appeals judge ruled that the execution of…
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Carol Moseley Braun, the Nation's 1st Black Female Senator, Looks to Join Joe Biden's Cabinet
The first Black woman to serve as a U.S. senator, Carol Moseley Braun, has been out of public office for nearly 20 years. But she’s hoping to make a return to government—in President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet, nonetheless—with an unlikely position: Secretary of the Interior. Moseley Braun, who represented Illinois as a senator, expressed her interest…
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SCOTUS Has Shown More Mercy to Juvenile Defendants in the Last 20 Years. A New Case Could Reverse That
Today marks the final day of voting in this year’s presidential election, considered by many to be the most consequential of our lifetimes. But no matter what result (or lack thereof) we wake up to on Wednesday, some of the ramifications of President Donald Trump’s actions will last well past the next presidential term. There…
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Black Youth Released From Juvenile Detention Facilities at a Lower Rate Than White Kids During Pandemic
In the early days of the pandemic, there was a sustained push to release those incarcerated in the nation’s jails, prisons and juvenile detention facilities. Unfortunately, that momentum has slowed and, in the case of juvenile detention centers, Black youth have disproportionately been left behind, according to a new report. Released by the Annie E.…
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Judge Denies Release for 15-Year-Old Detained for Not Doing Homework
It’s truly disheartening how quickly the American judicial system works to lock Black youth up. If you had any skepticism about how efficiently the school-to-prison pipeline works, the case of a 15-year-old girl in Michigan who was sent to juvenile detention for not doing her homework should quickly dispel it. Her case has generated national…
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Supreme Court to Decide When It's Appropriate to Give Juveniles Life Without Parole
Sentencing children to life in prison with no possibility of release has long been a controversial aspect of the American justice system. Now, it appears the Supreme Court is set to weigh in on when it’s appropriate. The New York Times reports, the Supreme Court will decide whether or not a judge must deem a…
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Supremes to Review Whether Lee Boyd Malvo, Serving Life as Accomplice to the DC Sniper, Deserves a New Sentence
The nation’s highest court on Wednesday is set to review the life sentences handed down in the early aughts to a then-teenage Lee Boyd Malvo, convicted of multiple murders as an active accomplice of John Allen Muhammad, the serial killer known as the D.C. Sniper—a review that has even won the support of some whom…
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Supreme Court to Hear Whether ‘DC Sniper’ Lee Boyd Malvo Deserves New Sentencing
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal of Lee Boyd Malvo, who participated in one of the most notorious, murderous shooting sprees in U.S. history, to determine if he should be re-sentenced because he was a minor at the time of his crimes. In September and October 2002, 17-year-old Malvo and…
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Minor Damage: The Criminal Injustice of Black Youth Tried As Adults
No one knew. When 25-year-old guard Keriana Alexcee found the body of Jaquin Thomas hanging in a New Orleans jail cell, she didn’t know that Thomas had been dead for more than 90 minutes. According to the Advocate, Alexcee had not been trained to check on Thomas every 15 minutes—as mandated by a federal consent…