Letter from the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth in support of SRCA/Section 208.
The Campaign supports the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2017, because, if signed into law, it will ensure that Congress fulfills the meaning and spirit of recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings and it will create more fair and age-appropriate sentencing standards for children. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that because children are constitutionally different from adults, they cannot be subject to our nation’s harshest punishments. Instead of life without the
possibility of release, this bill provides for life with the possibility of release by allowing
individuals under the age of 18 at the time of their crimes to petition the sentencing court to
review their sentences after they have served 20 years.