This year Jesus Cecena will get a second chance at freedom – a freedom he lost in 1978 at the age of 17. His parole hearing is the result of Senate Bill 260, now law, which Human Rights Watch co-sponsored and lobbied for. It allows inmates who were tried as adults despite their legal status as minors to appear for special parole hearings after serving 15 years of their life sentences. A Human Rights Watch Report on the issue called upon states to recognize the “special capacity for rehabilitation” and inherent “immaturity and irresponsibility” of children as mitigating factors in their sentencing.
For more information visit fairsentencingforyouth.org
