SUPPORT LEGISLATIVE BILLS SEEKING TO BAN LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE SENTENCES FOR MICHIGAN MINORS

This petition was created to provide you a platform to send your Michigan State Representative and Senator an email message expressing support for passage of House Bills 4160-4164 and Senate Bills 119-123 which were introduced with bipartisan support. The platform will automatically identify the correct Representative and Senator to send your message to based on your zip code.

If passed, the bills would end life without parole (LWOP) sentences for justice-involved Michigan children. Below is the text of the message you will be sending your legislator when signing the petition which offers common sense reasons for the proposed sentencing reforms.

Please share this petition widely in your social media network and invite others to do the same so we can help make Michigan the twenty-sixth state to end the deplorable practice of sentencing people to die in prison for tragic mistakes they made when they were children in the eyes of the law.

To view a press statement from the Senate bills' lead sponsor and learn additional information about the bills you can visit https://senatedems.com/irwin/2023/03/03/senate-and-house-introduce-bipartisan-legislation-to-end-juvenile-life-without-parole-in-michigan/

The information is applicable to both the House and Senate bills since they share the same language.

Efrén Paredes Jr. (he/him/el)
Founder
Support Michigan Prison Reform
http://fb.com/groups/MichPR
MiPrisonReform@gmail.com

Michigan Poor People's Campaign, Co-Chair
Presente.org, Co-Founder
Michigan Collaborative to End Mass
Incarceration (MI-CEMI), Member
Peace Education Center of Greater Lansing, Member

________________________________________________________________

MESSAGE TO LEGISLATORS SENT AS EMAIL

Dear Senator (Name):

I am writing to express support for passage of Michigan House Bills 4160-4164 and Senate Bills 119-123. Both sets of legislative bills propose making justice-involved children ages 18 and under ineligible to receive life without parole (LWOP) sentences. LWOP sentences are also known as death in prison or death-by-incarceration sentences because they do not end until the convicted person's life ends behind bars.

Under the proposed bills children will still be held fully accountable for their actions and can receive a prison sentence ranging between 10 and 60 years. However, they would not be condemned to die in prison for a tragic mistake they made when they were still mentally and emotionally underdeveloped. Instead, the bills would provide them a meaningful, realistic, and achievable opportunity for release consideration later in their adult life based upon demonstrated change and rehabilitation.

I reject the notion that any child is born bad, that justice-involved children are irredeemable, or that their lives are disposable. Research has proven "[i]dentity development never ceases: the persons adolescents will become are not the persons they will remain. The process of self-identification and redefinition lasts a lifetime." (Mihailis E. Diamantis, "Limiting Identity in Criminal Law," 60 B.C. L. Rev. 2011, 2077 (2019)).

Michigan shamefully ranks first in the nation as the state with the largest number of people sentenced to die in prison when they were children. The majority of the people who have disproportionately received the sentence -- more than 70% -- have been children of color.

Twenty-five states no longer sentence justice-involved children to LWOP. Another nine states have no one serving the extreme punishment who was sentenced when they were a child. Their decision to abandon the inhumane practice is in alignment with the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a civilized society.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued a report in November 2021 declaring that LWOP sentences for children is a human rights violation. It also recommended that the U.S. "adopt measures to abolish the sentence of life imprisonment for juveniles in Michigan and other states." The report titled "Juvenile Offenders Sentenced to Life Imprisonment Without Parole" is available from http://Bitly.com/IACHR-RPT-2022

More than 100 faith-based groups and organizations representing law enforcement officials, victims' families, mental health experts, and child welfare advocates have also endorsed the Statement of Principles for the Fair Sentencing of Youth and the national campaign to end the practice of sentencing children to LWOP.

Supporters include the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops, American Correctional Association, American Psychological Association, American Medical Association, and National Black Police Association, among many others. A complete list of supporters is available at http://FairSentencingOfYouth.org/Official-Supporters

It's time Michigan join the majority of the country that has replaced its outdated retributive model of incarceration for minors with one that respects their inherent dignity and acknowledges the concept of redemption.

I ask that you please support enacting House Bills 4160-4164 and Senate Bills 119-123 into law when they are brought before the House and Senate for a vote. I believe the bills provide a humane and forward-looking approach to holding justice-involved children accountable for harm they cause that balances public safety with mercy and common sense.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,