In January, Massachusetts banned sentencing young people under 21 to life in prison with no possibility of parole. In April, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a judge need not make a finding of "permanent incorrigibility" before sentencing a juvenile offender to life without parole. In other words, judges are allowed to sentence more young people than before to permanent imprisonment in our state -- but not in Massachusetts. If Massachusetts can fix this, so can our state. We're talking about people whose brains are still developing, who are years away from being deemed mature enough to rent an automobile. This makes it especially absurd and cruel to declare them beyond any possibility of redemption within a so-called "corrections" system. If young people cannot make corrections, who can? Our state should be the second state in the country to take this step. Click here to email your state legislators and governor to get this started.  |
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