THE FOLLOWING IS THE TEXT OF THE LETTER. SUPPORTERS’ NAMES WILL BE ADDED WHEN THE LETTER IS SUBMITTED. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD YOUR NAME IN SUPPORT, PLEASE ANSWER THE BRIEF QUESTIONS BELOW.
Dear California Leader,
As leaders and members from diverse faiths and traditions, including Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh, we share a responsibility to promote the principles of dignity, compassion, and healing as we work toward a criminal justice system that emphasizes restorative justice, rather than one based solely on retribution and punishment by incarceration, with its severe social, human, and economic cost.
As people of faith, our beliefs lead us to support change in the practice of sentencing youth to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
There is no question that youth who commit crimes should be held accountable-but in a way that reflects their age and their capacity for rehabilitation. At its core, the practice of condemning young people who are only 16 or 17 years old to spend to their entire lives behind bars ignores the potential that these young people may have for genuine remorse and rehabilitation. It dismisses the very real physical and psychological differences that have been scientifically proven to exist between youth and adults. We call attention to the fact that the United States is the only country on earth that applies this draconian punishment to minors.
Senate Bill 9 represents a more humane, sensible and proportionate sentencing approach, which allows for a person convicted as a youth and who has already served between 10 and 25 years in prison to petition a court to review his or her case. This act creates specific criteria and an intense, three-part review process, which may lead to a reduced sentence for those offenders who have matured and proven themselves to have changed. If the offender meets certain criteria, the court carefully reviews the case and decides, after listening to all sides, if a lesser sentence should be imposed. Not all youth would get a new sentencing hearing, and those who did would have no guarantee of getting a lesser sentence. Even if resentenced, offenders would still serve no less than 25 years in prison, and then face a parole board and prove they merit parole. Otherwise, they will remain in prison. There would be no guarantee of parole, only the opportunity to earn it. This bill allows us to protect public safety, while at the same time recognizing the possibility of rehabilitation and transformation that lies within our humanity.
As people of faith, we view this as a moral obligation: to allow those who have been convicted as young people to take responsibility for their actions, learn from their misguided offenses, and actively rehabilitate themselves so that they may have the hope of re-entering society as contributing citizens.
Therefore, we support the passage of SB 9.
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