The men--some teenagers, others in their early 60s--have all been told they will die in prison.
All were teenagers at the time of their crimes. All were tried as adults and convicted of murder. Some, more specifically, were convicted of felony murder, meaning they weren't the primary perpetrators and may have not even known the crime would take place. Yet here they are, at San Quentin State Prison, where I visited them in mid-July.
These men are not just sitting around doing their time. They are determined to reflect on their crimes, acknowledge the harm they caused and better themselves. They are part of an innovative program called Kid CAT--Kid because they were kids at the time of their offenses, and CAT for "creating awareness together."
Kid CAT was developed by a group of so-called juvenile lifers who hope to one day convince a judge or parole board they deserve a second chance at life. Those approved to participate grapple to understand the factors that led to their crimes. They work to address the traumas of their childhoods, many of which were wracked by violence, neglect, poverty, and the lure of gangs and would be unrecognizable to most of America's children.
They even do community outreach, meeting weekly with at-risk youth from the Bay Area to help them identify and manage some of their potentially dangerous, yet normal emotions--anger, sadness, loss--so those feelings do not lead to destructive behavior.
During my visit the men talked about meeting with people whose loved ones were killed. They shed tears of remorse. They shared their art, their writing, their innovative ideas for joining my group's efforts to end life sentences for children. They inquired about everything, from how I came to work for this cause to the intricacies of laws passed around the country.
These men are working hard to become better people. They have overcome challenges most of us could never imagine. They are devoted to ensuring other children don't make the mistakes they made. Thankfully, they are imprisoned in a state that has seen meaningful reforms in recent years that give them hope of a second chance.
California's reforms and recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions limiting the practice of sentencing children to life without parole are spurring others to act. Seventeen states do not sentence children to life without parole, and another five have banned it in most cases.
State policymakers would be wise to follow this national trend. We must ban life sentences for children and ensure others have opportunities to participate in programs like Kid CAT. These men demonstrate that we are all more than the worst thing that we have ever done and that children--even those who have made grave mistakes--possess a capacity for change and rehabilitation.
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Jody Kent Lavy is the director and national coordinator of Fair Sentencing for Youth, which works to abolish sentences of life without parole for juvenile offenders.
Editorial on 07/29/2016