The U.S. Supreme Court has held that the Constitution prohibits states from imposing a sentence of life without parole for offenses a defendant committed when a juvenile, and has applied this ruling retroactively. Yet here in Maryland, nearly 300 prisoners are serving de facto sentences of life without parole for crimes they committed when they were children, even though they were nominally sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. How can this be?

This results from the blanket policy that the governors of Marylandwho control parole decisions for prisoners serving life sentenceshave adopted for the past 20 years of refusing parole in all such cases. This policy has deprived these prisoners, who have spent their entire adult lives in prisonfive, 10, 20 years or moreof any opportunity to demonstrate that their growth, maturity, and remorse entitle them to a shot at a life outside prisonan opportunity that the Constitution guarantees each of them.

But now they have that opportunity. And they need your help.

In response to federal litigation challenging Marylands de facto policy, the State has recently offered parole hearings to each of these prisoners. Some 40 such prisoners lack the attorney support they need if they are to have a meaningful chance of relief. The Maryland Juvenile Lifer Parole Representation Project* was formed to provide that support. The Project provides training, individual mentoring, and wrap-around support for lawyers who volunteer to help any of these individuals prepare and present his case to the Parole Board.
Please join us Friday, October 27, from noon to 2 p.m. for a Ballard Spahr-hosted luncheon and training for lawyers interested in supporting juvenile lifers seeking parole.

If you would like to receive more information about this project, but are unable to attend the training, please contact:

Mary Price
General Counsel
Families Against Mandatory Minimums
(202) 822-6700
MPrice@famm.org

*The Project is a working group composed of the Maryland ACLU, Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM), the Maryland Restorative Justice Initiative, the Baltimore School of Law Juvenile Justice Project, the American University Washington College of Law Criminal Justice Clinic, and the Catholic University School of Law Clemency Project Clinic.

Friday, October 27, 2017 | 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM ET
Ballard Spahr
300 East Lombard Street
18th Floor
Baltimore, MD 21202