Juvenile justice advocates are briefing Congress this Wednesday on what’s known as Sara’s Law and the Unfair Sentencing of Minors Act.
The debate over whether youth offenders should be sentenced the same as adults also remains active in Oregon.
While the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth and Human Rights for Kids is hosting the briefing, representatives from groups like the Oregon Justice Resource Center will also be present. Trevor Walraven of the OJRC cites research on young people’s brains that show they aren’t fully developed.
“That’s not to suggest they don’t know right from wrong and make bad choices,” said Walraven. “It’s just to highlight the fact that their understanding of long-term consequences, their likelihood to be reactive – especially in heightened emotional situations - is far different than that of a fully-developed adult.”
Walraven was 14 when he fatally shot a man in Josephine County. Sentenced to life, he was released in 2016 through Oregon’s “Second Look” process. He now works to advocate for juvenile offenders, and was a vocal supporter of SB 1008, which eliminated automatic shifting of 15-17 year olds charged with serious crimes to adult court.
Some scholars and justice officials have pushed back against the neuroscience, saying family, schooling, and mental health care are bigger factors.
Caren Harp is President Trump’s former appointee to head the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. She counters there are more factors to consider, including environment and parenting.
“All of this stuff being done in the laboratories and MRIs and all this wonderful imaging that exists out there, is still…it needs to stay in the laboratory. It’s not ready for the courtroom yet.”
Sara’s Law is named for a California victim of child sex trafficking, who killed her abuser. She was tried as an adult and sentenced to life in 1985. She was released after serving 19 years after Governors Schwarzenegger and Newsom commuted her sentence, and pardoned her, respectively. Supporters of Sara’s Law say an offender’s personal trauma should be weighed in sentencing decisions.
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