YSRP Co-Directors Author Article on JLWOP

Making Montgomery Meaningful for Juvenile Lifers

YSRP Co-Directors Lauren Fine and Joanna Visser Adjoian authored an article in the Legal Intelligencer about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions in Miller v. Alabama, 132 S. Ct. 2455 (2012) and Montgomery v. Louisiana, 136 S. Ct. 718 (2016). They argue that while these cases represent a sea change in the administration of justice for youth in our country, protections and resources must be put in place to ensure that the Court’s mandates are followed here in Pennsylvania. “As the largest city in a state that has sentenced more children to life in prison without parole than any other in the country (and hence has the most juvenile lifers in the world), Philadelphia has a unique opportunity and moral responsibility to seize this moment—to create the model for how to humanely and appropriately handle these cases, from the courtroom to the community.”

Read the full article here.