End Life Sentences for Juveniles By Margaret Irwin
The State of Wisconsin is inching its way toward passing a bill that would end life sentences without the possibility of parole for juveniles. Current law allows a judge to sentence offenders between 13 and 17 to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole or community supervision, no matter how many decades they will serve.
In December 2023, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced Senate Bill 801/Assembly Bill 845. It states that when the court sentences a youthful offender to life imprisonment, it must set a date on which the person will become eligible to be considered for release on parole or community supervision. Normally, this would be after 15-20 years in prison. Passing this bill would not guarantee release, but it creates a mechanism to apply for early release. It would also apply retroactively, opening the possibility of release to several dozen current prisoners who received extreme sentences during their teens.
Passage of SB801/AB845 would bring Wisconsin in line with 28 states that have already banned Juvenile Life Without Parole sentences, including Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois. The U.S. is the only country in the world that allows such sentences. The bill would also bring Wisconsin law into accord with the U.S. Constitution. In Miller vs. Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that imposing a mandatory life sentence without parole on a juvenile constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and therefore violates the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution.
The movement to ban life sentences for juveniles is also based on a growing body of scientific evidence that the brain continues to develop into a person’s mid-20s. Younger people may exhibit immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to appreciate risks and consequences. As state Sen. Jesse James, co-author of SB 801 asks, “How is a 15-year-old supposed to understand life without parole when that sentence is literally quadruple the entire time they’ve been alive? People can grow; people can change, especially when their brains are still forming. Juveniles deserve a second chance.”
A report from The Sentencing Project concludes: “The evolving maturing of young adults leads to a sharp decline in criminal tendencies by the late 30s; and therefore, incarceration beyond a period of 15-20 years, even for serious crimes, produces diminishing returns for public safety. The National Research Council is the latest authority to note that long-term sentences serve little purpose other than to reinforce [retribution rather than rehabilitation].”
Similar bills have been introduced in the state Legislature in the past, but they never made it out of committee. Now there is some progress. The Assembly Committee on Judiciary held a hearing on the bill on Feb. 8. James Morgan and Sherry Reames from MOSES and Mark Rice from WISDOM testified in favor of the bill, and many MOSES members contacted their legislators to express their support. Since the legislative session is set to end on March 14, the bill may not pass during this session. However, the gears have been set in motion. As we know in MOSES, progress can be slow, so it’s important to keep our collective foot on the pedal.
Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings spoke to Taking a Faithful Stand for Equity about Critical Race Theory. Taking a Faithful Stance for Equity is a coalition formed in 2021 to address attacks on diversity and inclusion in our schools. Leading members of the coalition are WISDOM, MICAH (the Milwaukee affiliate of WISDOM), Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice, the Wisconsin Council of Churches, the Wisconsin Council of Rabbis, and the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee.
This video is an excerpt of the first Sentencing Forum specifically dealing with the importance of coming to terms with the sentences given to people who are violent offenders. It also talks about the widespread existence of violence in our society, what happens when we label people as violent offenders and the violence we inflict on people who have caused harm in our society. This video is 26 minutes long. It includes Michael O’Hear, Professor of Law at Marquette University, and Cecelia Klingele, Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin Madison.
Racial equity is a core value of WISDOM and its affiliates and is practiced in everything we do.
Diverse voices, viewpoints, opinions, thoughts, and ideas are actively encouraged and embraced throughout our organization.
A culture of deep and authentic relationships throughout WISDOM and its affiliates fosters a sense of restored community and mutual caring.
Our commitment to racial equity promotes a just, fair, respectful, inclusive, and thriving community for everyone in our organization and in the institutions we seek to improve.
WISDOM and its affiliates, and participants individually, are open and responsive to constructively-given feedback about racist attitudes or behaviors we may display, however unintentional.
Mistakes are courageously and forthrightly identified. We will graciously “call each other in” and describe and discuss mistakes with clarity as part of a continuous education process.
Patience, genuine caring, and compassionate listening are practiced in our mutual effort to understand oppression, both overt and systemic.
WISDOM and its affiliates are characterized by an intentional identity as an antiracist institution.
Diverse racial, cultural, and economic groups enjoy full participation and shared power in all aspects of our mission, structure, constituency, policies, and practices.
People of color lead in the work we do and are always at the tables where decisions that affect us get made.
WISDOM embraces and champions policies that provide for both individual dignity and dismantling structural racism in the wider community by building clear lines of accountability to organizations of color and racially oppressed communities that are directly impacted by our work.
Our work for racial liberation values embracing diversity/difference as a gift, the unique worth of every person, treating everyone with dignity, inclusivity, social justice, public good, and culturalcompetence (awareness, attitude, knowledge, and skills). By living these values, we are better human beings.
RACIAL EQUITY ACTION STEPS AND MEASUREMENTS
WISDOM and its affiliates will take the following first steps toward fulfillment of these principles and will do an annual racial equity check-in to keep us all accountable. The WISDOM Racial Equity Core Team will provide tools for this to the affiliates (e.g., a WISDOM assessment tool to be used each October) and serve as resources to the affiliates as needed.
Provide Education on Implicit Bias: We will provide an Implicit Bias workshop in every affiliate and encourage all members to participate. This training is provided through Gamaliel and is in conjunction with Gamaliel affiliates across the country.
Baseline Analysis of Organizational Racism: We will develop a baseline analysis of racism within our organization that will serve to increase commitment of members to dismantle racism both within WISDOM and its affiliates and within the community.
Education and Dialogue: We will develop a shared understanding within WISDOM and its affiliates of the meaning and historical reality of systemic racism through education and dialogue.
Long Term and Short Term Racial Equity Goals: We will be strategic and intentional in setting both long term and short term racial equity goals and in monitoring our progress toward them by their impact, not simply our intention. (We should be able to see the progress)
Raise up and Support Under-Represented Leaders: We will prioritize historically and systemically excluded or marginalized people by recognizing, raising up and supporting leaders from under represented populations and intentionally creating pathways for them to be included in decision-making and leadership.
