PRAWA and the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth are pleased to announce that the State of Utah in USA has

joined the growing number of states that do not allow children to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Utah Governor Gary R. Herbert has signed Senate Bill 228, which removes the penalty from the state’s juvenile sentencing scheme.

The change comes as many states are working to comply with last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Miller v. Alabama, which found that mandatory life without parole sentences are unconstitutional when imposed for a crime committed when an individual was younger than 18. Such sentences were never mandatory in Utah, but sentencing authorities had discretion to impose them for certain crimes.

By approving this new law, Utah has demonstrated its commitment to holding children who commit serious crimes accountable in age-appropriate ways that focus on their capacity for rehabilitation and reintegration into society.

The U.S. Supreme Court has held three times in the last three years that child status is relevant to matters of justice and the law. The message that “kids are different” has been established by the Court, scientific research and, increasingly, among liberal and conservative policymakers alike.

PRAWA believes that justice is not cruel but dynamic and malleable. We sincerely hope that these new and positive developments in the global criminal justice system will soon take on roots in the developing nations of Africa. . We join all the interest groups all over the world that are working for the development of better and more humane criminal justice system for mankind to urge everybody to help keep the momentum going.

Amandla!