Pennsylvania leads the nation in teen lifers!

[Bravo Zulu]

Nearly 500 teens serving life terms in Pa. prisons
Monday, September 29, 2008
By Moriah Balingit, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pennsylvania leads the nation in teen lifers -- prisoners serving life without parole for crimes they committed as minor.

110 more than runner-up Louisiana, according to a May 2008 report by Human Rights Watch

Last year in Pennsylvania, nine people were sentenced to life for crimes they committed as minors. Today, 10 people in Allegheny County await trial for crimes they committed as minors and could wind up in prison for life. (First- and second-degree murder are the only crimes that result in a minor being sentenced to life in prison.)

It could be a commentary on Pennsylvania law ... it could also be a commentary on society, a major contributing factor is the rigidity of Pennsylvania law, which requires anyone charged with homicide, regardless of age, to be tried as an adult and has a mandatory minimum sentence of life without parole for first- and second-degree murder.

In Pennsylvania, first-degree murder is defined as an intentional killing, generally premeditated; second-degree murder is any homicide that occurs during the commission of a felony.

Pennsylvania may be the only state that has a mandatory sentence of life without parole for both first- and second-degree murder, said James Fellman, a Tampa, Fla.-based attorney and the chairman of the American Bar Association's Commission on Sentencing.

In weighing options like early release for those currently serving life sentences and lighter mandatory minimum sentences, he said that the state must consider the impact on public safety, particularly how well the state can determine which of those convicted are sufficiently rehabilitated and which of those are likely to commit crimes again.


http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08273/915905-85.stm