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States Abandoning Juvenile Life Without Parole at a Rapid Pace

Published

10 years ago

October 9, 2015

Since the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated mandatory life without parole for juveniles (JLWOP) in 2012, nine states have abolished it, with six states abolishing it within the past year.

In actual practice, the imposition of JLWOP has dropped dramatically since the mid-1990s and is increasingly isolated to outlier counties and states, according to recently released data from the Phillips Black Project.

The Phillips Black Project report, “No Hope: Re-Examining Lifetime Sentences for Juvenile Offenders,” and infographics are available online at http://bit.ly/1LHbrRK.

Only a few states and a handful of counties impose JLWOP sentences. Just nine states – California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina and Pennsylvania – account for 82 percent of all JLWOP sentences.

In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Miller v. Alabama that mandatory life without parole sentences for juveniles violated the Eighth Amendment.

On Oct. 13, the court will hold oral argument in Montgomery v. Louisiana, in which it will decide whether to apply the ban on mandatory JLWOP retroactively, i.e., on offenders whose appeals were completed when Miller was decided.

A number of advocates, including Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree, have urged the Court to rule that JLWOP is unconstitutional in all cases.

Walter Riley, Oakland civil rights lawyer, also believes the Supreme Court should decide that the 2012 decision applies retroactively and would change many of California’s juvenile sentences.

“We understand scientifically that juveniles and teens are still developing in their brains and that their judgment and sense of morality are not better defined until their 20s,” said Riley. “Their judgments in this period should not be something that disables them for the rest of their lives.”

“Hopefully, California moving forward will see an appreciation for the role that society has to play in guiding young people rather than punishing and alienating them from the rest of society,” he said.

From 1992 to 1999, 45 states passed laws expanding adult court jurisdiction over juveniles, exposing additional young offenders to life without parole sentences.

Legislatures were sparked by the now-discredited theory that a generation of super-predators was on the horizon. The super-predators never arrived, but many individuals are still languishing under sentences premised on the super-predator myth.

The Phillips Black Project data shows that in the three years since the Court’s decision in Miller v. Alabama, nine states – Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Nevada, Texas, West Virginia, Wyoming and Vermont – have abolished JLWOP, bringing the current number of states that completely outlaw the sentence to 15.

Five counties account for more than one-fifth of all JLWOP sentences. Those counties are Philadelphia County, PA; Los Angeles County, CA; Orleans Parish, LA; Cook County, IL; and St. Louis City, MO. A single county – Philadelphia, PA – accounts for almost 10 percent of all JLWOP sentences nationwide.

Since 1992, a Black juvenile arrested for homicide has been twice as likely to be sentenced to life without parole than his white counterpart. Texas only has persons of color serving JLWOP sentences. Eighty percent of the people serving JLWOP in Pennsylvania are people of color.

The pace of abolition of JLWOP – a rate of three per year since 2012 – is faster than the rate at which states were repealing the death penalty for juveniles and people with intellectual disabilities in the years before the Court invalidated those punishments.

Oakland Post

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Oakland Housing and Community Development Department Awards $80.5 Million to Affordable Housing Developments

Published

6 months ago

June 17, 2025

Oakland Post

Special to The Post

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department (Oakland HCD) announced its awardees for the 2024-2025 New Construction of Multifamily Affordable Housing Notice of Funding Availability (New Construction NOFA) today Five permanently affordable housing developments received awards out of 24 applications received by the Department, with award amounts ranging from $7 million to $28 million.

In a statement released on Jan. 16, Oakland’s HCD stated, “Five New Construction Multifamily Affordable Housing Development projects awarded a total of $80.5 million to develop 583 affordable rental homes throughout Oakland. Awardees will leverage the City’s investments to apply for funding from the state and private entities.”

In December, the office of Rebecca Kaplan, interim District 2 City Councilmember, worked with HCD to allocate an additional $10 Million from Measure U to the funding pool. The legislation also readopted various capital improvement projects including street paving and upgrades to public facilities.

The following Oakland affordable housing developments have been awarded in the current round:

Mandela Station Affordable

238 Affordable Units including 60 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $15 million + previously awarded $18 million
Developer: Mandela Station LP (Pacific West Communities, Inc. and Strategic Urban Development Alliance, LLC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 1451 7th St.

Liberation Park Residences

118 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $28 million
Developer: Eden Housing and Black Cultural Zone
City Council District: 6
Address: 7101 Foothill Blvd.

34th & San Pablo

59 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $7 million
Developer: 34SP Development LP (EBALDC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 3419-3431 San Pablo Ave.

The Eliza

96 Affordable Units including 20 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $20 million
Developer: Mercy Housing California
City Council District: 3
Address: 2125 Telegraph Ave.

3135 San Pablo

72 Affordable Units including 36 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $10.5 million
Developer: SAHA and St. Mary’s Center
City Council District: 3
Address: 3515 San Pablo Ave.

The source of this story is the media reltations office of District 2 City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Oakland Housing and Community Development Department Awards $80.5 Million to Affordable Housing Developments

Published

11 months ago

January 30, 2025

Oakland Post

Rebecca Kaplan, interim District 2 city councilmember. File photo.

Special to The Post

The following Oakland affordable housing developments have been awarded in the current round:

Mandela Station Affordable

238 Affordable Units including 60 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $15 million + previously awarded $18 million
Developer: Mandela Station LP (Pacific West Communities, Inc. and Strategic Urban Development Alliance, LLC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 1451 7th St.

Liberation Park Residences

118 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $28 million
Developer: Eden Housing and Black Cultural Zone
City Council District: 6
Address: 7101 Foothill Blvd.

34th & San Pablo

59 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $7 million
Developer: 34SP Development LP (EBALDC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 3419-3431 San Pablo Ave.

The Eliza

96 Affordable Units, including 20 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $20 million
Developer: Mercy Housing California
City Council District: 3
Address: 2125 Telegraph Ave.

3135 San Pablo

72 Affordable Units including 36 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $10.5 million
Developer: SAHA and St. Mary’s Center
City Council District: 3
Address: 3515 San Pablo Ave.

The source of this story is media reltations office of District 2 City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.

Oakland Post

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Alameda County

Oakland Acquisition Company’s Acquisition of County’s Interest in Coliseum Property on the Verge of Completion

The Board of Supervisors is committed to closing the deal expeditiously, and County staff have worked tirelessly to move the deal forward on mutually agreeable terms. The parties are down to the final details and, with the cooperation of OAC and Coliseum Way Partners, LLC, the Board will take a public vote at an upcoming meeting to seal this transaction.

Published

11 months ago

January 11, 2025

Oakland Post

Alameda County Board of Supervisors Chairman David Haubert. Official photo.

Special to The Post

The County of Alameda announced this week that a deal allowing the Oakland Acquisition Company, LLC, (“OAC”) to acquire the County’s 50% undivided interest in the Oakland- Alameda County Coliseum complex is in the final stages of completion.

Oakland has already finalized a purchase and sale agreement with OAC for its interest in the property. OAC’s acquisition of the County’s property interest will achieve two longstanding goals of the County:

The Oakland-Alameda Coliseum complex will finally be under the control of a sole owner with capacity to make unilateral decisions regarding the property; and
The County will be out of the sports and entertainment business, free to focus and rededicate resources to its core safety net

In an October 2024 press release from the City of Oakland, the former Oakland mayor described the sale of its 50% interest in the property as an “historic achievement” stating that the transaction will “continue to pay dividends for generations to come.”

The Board of Supervisors is pleased to facilitate single-entity ownership of this property uniquely centered in a corridor of East Oakland that has amazing potential.

“The County is committed to bringing its negotiations with OAC to a close,” said Board President David Haubert.