In Maryland, many juvenile offenders languish in prison without parole - PBS NewsHour
Nearly a year ago, President Trump signed a bipartisan federal criminal justice reform bill that reduced mandatory sentences. Many states followed suit -- but not Maryland. In collaboration with the University of Maryland’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, John Yang reports on the uncertain fate of prisoners who are still serving life sentences for crimes they committed as minors.
John Yang:
In the 1990s, fear and anger over violent crime led to a sharp increase in incarceration. That included sentencing large numbers of juveniles to life in adult prisons without parole.
In 2012, the Supreme Court declared that cruel and unusual punishment, but, in Maryland, so-called juvenile lifers now in their 50s and 60s still wait for parole.
Earl Young had been sentenced to life at age 17.
Parris Glendening was Maryland's liberal Democratic governor. During his first campaign in 1994, he sought to counter attacks that he was soft on crime.
Parris Glendening:
We must stop the slaughter that is going on in our communities. I support putting violent offenders in prison and giving what I call truth in sentencing. If you are sentenced to life in prison, it ought to mean life in prison, and not 11 years, the way it does today.
John Yang:
In 1994, Earl Young had served nine years for first-degree murder in a robbery gone wrong.
John Yang:
His hope? The possibility of parole.
Earl Young:
I felt optimistic because I applied myself. I kept steady employment. I stayed out of trouble to the best of my ability. My days were complete from the beginning to the end with all constructive things.
John Yang:
But after Glendening announced in 1995 he would no longer sign paroles, Young would remain in prison another 24 years.
More than 300 juvenile lifers sit in Maryland prisons, among them, 55-year-old Calvin McNeill, convicted at 17 of first-degree murder in a dice game turned violent. We spoke to him by phone.
(snip)
John Yang:
Now Glendening sees things differently.
Parris Glendening:
I made a mistake. It was a very bad mistake, in the sense that it impacted lots of people, it impacted subsequent administrations. But it was a mistake. And I think it is important to acknowledge.
John Yang:
Because of the governor's extraordinary power, that mistake had an outsized impact.
Sonia Kumar:
Maryland is fairly unique among states in giving the authority to parole someone serving a life sentence exclusively to the governor. In other states, it would be a parole board.
More..
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/in-maryland-many-juvenile-offenders-languish-in-prison-without-parole
Wrenching, really
