Jun 2, 2009 4:07 pm US/Pacific
New Bill Would Scrap Life Sentences For Minors
SACRAMENTO (AP) ―
The state Senate has approved legislation that would give minors sentenced to life in prison a chance to win parole.
The measure would allow defendants who were under age 18 when they were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole the right to petition a court to reduce their terms to 25 years to life.
To file the petitions, the inmates would have to serve at least 10 years and meet certain standards indicating they could be rehabilitated.
Life without parole sentences are usually handed out in murder cases. But the bill's author, Sen. Leland Yee, a San Francisco Democrat, says nearly half the youths who receive no-parole sentences are accomplices, rather than the actual killers.
http://cbs13.com/local/minors.life.sentences.2.1028810.html