YOUTH SENTENCING & REENTRY PROJECT INC

We partner with young people (under 18) who face charges in the adult criminal justice system, with the goal of avoiding adult jails and prisons, and with Juvenile Lifers. Where a sentence must be imposed, we seek individualized outcomes that take into account a person’s full humanity, and that reduce the imposition, duration, and impact of adult criminal sentences on young people and their families.

We believe that young people and Juvenile Lifers are the experts of their own lived experiences and that their voices and their communities should be central to their court proceedings. We utilize a technique that is often employed in death penalty cases to center the voices of our client-partners: mitigation.

“Mitigation” is, essentially, the telling of one’s life story. We partner with youth and Juvenile Lifers to tell their stories━about who they are, and where they come from. We interview family members, friends, teachers, doctors, coaches, social workers━anyone who can illustrate a more realistic, detailed picture of a youth’s life experience, or a Juvenile Lifer’s early life and adjustment to prison. We gather and incorporate medical, educational and other records. We set this story within the context of the developing adolescent brain and the relevant case law that speaks to the unique characteristics of youth. We also collect letters from family members, community members and service providers.

We partner with young people and their defense attorneys as close to the time of their arrest as possible to begin building a mitigation narrative. We raise the bar of representation that our client-partners receive by incorporating reentry plans into their defense at the earliest possible stages.