By Kathleen Haughney
The News Service of Florida
A bill approved by a Senate panel Tuesday would establish parole for adolescent offenders, making it likely that life sentences for juveniles would be eliminated.
The case comes just months after the U.S. Supreme Court heard two cases on whether life sentences for juvenile offenders constituted cruel and unusual punishment. The issue was heard through two separate cases in October, Graham v. Florida and Sullivan v. Florida, which involved two Florida men who were sentenced to life as children, even though the circumstances surrounding the cases were questionable.
The measure (SB 184) wouldn’t allow for that to take place, establishing parole for kids who committed a crime when they were 15-years-old or younger and were sentenced to more than 10 years in prison.
The bill was championed in the past by the late Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, but is now being sponsored by Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa. Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, who was presenting the measure to the Senate Criminal Justice Committee on behalf of Joyner, said the legislation was meant to give children who screwed up a “second chance.”
“This bill does not excuse those acts,” Siplin said.
In the October Supreme Court Case, lawyers for Sullivan argued that life without parole was a “vanishingly rare occurrence,” but the state defended its position.
“The states have sovereign responsibility over their own criminal justice systems, and their legislatures decide the appropriate mix of punishment, deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation in determining appropriate prison sentences,” Attorney General Bill McCollum’s office wrote in his brief on the case.
Brittany Black, a third year law student at Florida State who works on child advocacy issues, told the committee that the number of offenders that this would affect would be fairly low.
“But they are truly unique, truly exceptional and truly deserve a second chance at life,” Black said.
The panel approved the bill 6-1, with Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa, voting against it. The measure is next slated for the Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Committee, which is chaired by Crist. The House bill (HB 23) was passed by the Public Safety & Domestic Security Policy Committee, and is now before the House Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Committee.
