The story of Demetrius Burks' death incarceration is unfortunately commonplace in the United States. Young black men in underserved and economically challenged regions are directly and indirectly pushed to all corners of the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Even with the evidence to suggest that young people’s brains are not fully developed until the age of 25, we have thousands of teenagers beings jailed for crimes they committed as children.

Demetrius Burks (Michigan City, Indiana) was arrested and incarcerated at 17 years of age, in 2005, for a drive-by killing of a 19-year-old South African white teen, Gareth Geustyn. Demetrius was sentenced to 55 years.

Demetrius admits it was an act of impulsivity, stupidity, and peer pressure. 

He never claimed to be completely innocent. Additionally, his lawyer wouldn't let him tell his side due to a lifelong studdering problem. As a child, he experienced fatherlessness, abuse, and abandonment. He was picked on a lot due to his speech impediment. Demetrius had a speech and behavioral therapist who diagnosed him as emotionally handicapped due to his impulsive actions. Yet, no mental health evaluations were considered before, during, or after sentencing. 

What we know is that our brains do not fully mature until the age of 25. We also know that increased maturity is tired to distance from delinquency. Policymakers and researchers have agreed that early childhood trauma often feeds delinquency and other behavior control issues in youth and young adults. According to the Sentencing Project, “Most youth who enter the justice system for delinquency (63%) never return to court on delinquency charges.” They also report that, “New research also makes increasingly clear that young people’s ability to desist from delinquent behavior is tied to their progress in developing “psychosocial maturity,” including the abilities to control impulses, delay gratification, weigh the consequences of their actions, consider other people’s perspectives, and resist peer pressure. “

When he first got locked up, he was still mad at the world and blamed others for his situation, so he continued to show signs of aggression and impulsive behavior. It wasn't until he did over five years in solitary confinement that he started taking the initiative and stopped misplacing the blame. He was forced to look into the mirror and change the boy he saw into the man he wanted to become. 

After being released from solitary confinement in 2016, he became very active in his religious community and began to not only complete programs, but also facilitate groups and programs in hopes of inspiring others. Through the struggles he endured in prison, he found a deep level of redemption and realized his purpose; to teach and inspire other incarcerated young people through art and music. He honestly wants to use his testimony and example of personal transformation to help change the lives of many miseducated and misguided young men and women. 

Demetrius has become a role model he never had and always needed. Demetrius knows what it's like to feel lost, forgotten, and misunderstood. This was his first time incarcerated; nearly 20 years later, he feels rehabilitated, reformed, and restored.  He is ready to rejoin society and help prevent others like himself from traveling that same road. It's his ultimate purpose. An ounce of prevention is better than a ton of cure.

REASONS TO SIGN PETITION

While Demetrius Burks is set to have a clemency hearing as early as December 2024. New Indiana law on sentence modification was passed July 1, 2023. According to Indiana Code 35-38-1-17:

(n) A person sentenced in a criminal court having jurisdiction over an offense committed when the person was less than eighteen (18) years of age may file an additional petition for sentence modification under this section without the consent of the prosecuting attorney if the person has served at least:

(2) twenty (20) years of the person's sentence, if the person is serving a sentence for murder.

In 2025 Demetrius will be eligible for sentence modification without the prosecuting attorney’s consent. The issue here is that despite all Demetrius’ accomplishments and good behavior the prosecutor has denied request for relief without consideration. When the goal of the U.S. Criminal Justice systems are rehabilitation, especially for juvenile offenders like Demetrius.

We need not wait on an inhumane legislative timeline to request and command the right things, like FREEING DEMETRIUS BURKS. There is never a wrong time to do the right thing.

This once juvenile delinquent, now redeemed man, through years of self-improvement and accountability deserves the opportunity to give back to a society that he took from. Today Detemtrius’ life story is an ideal example to detour at-risk youth from making his same mistakes.

If you believe in Redemption, Restorative Justice, Healing Justice, and Humanity sign this petition to give Demetrius a bigger voice than his own in the Juvenile Justice Movement.

Thank you in advance. 

Sincerely,

EL BE 448

___________

note:

Demetrius Inside Accomplishments:

•  2006-2007 GED and Thinking for a Change Program;
• 2008 attended Ball State University; 
• 2016-2017 Plus Program, a community involvement program that provides tools to reenter and become a productive member of society;
• 2017 Editor for the Plus Programs newsletter.
• 2017 True-Self Pilot program, which is geared toward helping develop empathy and emotional intelligence. Helping create a better and more productive prison experience. He helped create the program and get it approved in Pendleton Correctional Facility. 
• 2018 True Self Facilitator.
• 2018 Changing Lives Through Literature participant.
• 2018 CLTL Facilitator
• 2018 Poetry Group Co-facilitator.
• 2019 Toastmasters Club International (TCI). A leadership and public speaking club that helped develop communication and leadership skills. 
• 2019 (TCI) Competent Communicator Award.
• 2919 (TCI) Competent Leader Award.
• 2019 (TCI) Club Secretary-Elect. 
• 2020 IUPUI's Inside/Outside Prisoner Exchange Program, which is a program where outside and inside students complete a Criminal Justice course on Mass Incarceration and are taught about implicit biases, empathy, and restorative justice. The class created a restorative prison model. 
• 2022 Indiana Peer Education Program.
•  2022 Project ECHO Facilitator, which is a group that teaches communicable and non-communicable disease prevention in the prison population. 
• 2023 Therapuetic Community Involvement Facilitator:
  -Anger Management,
  -Cognitive Behavioral Therapy participant,
  -Grief Counseling participant,
  -Positive Psychology,
  -Cognitive Behavioral Therapy,
  -Group Facilitator Alternatives to Violence Project,
  -Peer Mediator;
• 2023 Recovery While Incarcerated (RWI) is a Purposeful Incarceration Program that provides inpatient/outpatient treatment for Incarcerated individuals geared towards substance abuse and criminal addictive behaviors.

Contact:

Demetrius Burks #168250

PCF

4490 W. Reformatory Rd.

Pendleton, IN, 46064