The Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project

Mission

The Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project (YSRP) uses direct service and policy advocacy to transform the experiences of children prosecuted in the adult criminal justice system, and to ensure fair and thoughtful resentencing and reentry for individuals who were sentenced to life without parole as children (“Juvenile Lifers”). We partner with court-involved youth and Juvenile Lifers, their families, and lawyers to develop holistic, humanizing narratives that mitigate the facts of each case; get cases transferred to the juvenile system or resentenced; and make crucial connections to community resources providing education, healthcare, housing, and employment. We also provide training on mitigation and recruit, train, and supervise students and other volunteers to assist in this work. Our ultimate goals are to keep children out of adult jails and prisons and to enhance the quality of representation Juvenile Lifers receive at resentencing and as they prepare to reenter the community.

We are inspired by the belief that no person is all good or all bad, and that no child should be defined by the worst thing he or she has ever done. The experiences of the young people, Juvenile Lifers and their families with whom partner highlight the significant need for the services and supports YSRP was created to provide. Marcus, a 16 year-old boy tried as an adult said, “in criminal court, I felt like I was the smallest person in the room, with the biggest problem.” YSRP is driven by the goal of preventing additional children and families from surviving that same fate.

Organization Information