RECONSTRUCTION Inc

Sentencing juveniles to life without parole (JLWOP) is one of the many areas of criminal justice in which the United States sets itself apart from the rest of the world. No other country allows for the imposition of life sentences without the possibility of parole for child offenders. Pennsylvania has the most people serving Juvenile Life without Parole in the country.Of the approximately 2,500 JLWOP sentences in the United States, around 400 or so were awarded in Pennsylvania, which is what is known in juvenile sentencing terms as a "double mandatory" state: juveniles involved in a homicide are automatically transferred to adult court and tried as adults (“adult crime, adult time“) and both first- and second-degree murder convictions carry mandatory LWOP sentences. In 2012 the U.S. Supreme Court (In Miller v. Alabama) ruled That Mandatory Life without Parole Sentences for Juveniles Are Unconstitutional. At that time the decision did not state that the ruling was retroactive therefore each state'sRead more… Read more…

Pennsylvania’s Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA: http://www.mcdonalddefense.com/2011/12/16/pennsylvanias-post- conviction-relief- act-pcra/ The PCRA is an indirect method of appeal in criminal cases. A direct appeal is when a criminal case is appealed from the Court of Common Pleas, where the accused lost the case, and wants to challenge some aspect of it. For more on direct appeals, read my post here. An indirect appeal in a PCRA allows the person to have the case reconsidered when a direct appeal to the Superior Court has been denied. The PCRA must be filed within one year of the denial of the final direct appeal, or after the conviction if the defendant chooses not to use direct appeals. The one year rule does have some exceptions. The basic exceptions include: where counsel effectively abandons the defendant in the PCRA process, where the petition is an extension of a previously filed petition that was within the one year limit, where the government blockedRead more… Read more…

Women Serving Life Sentence – FFL has expanded its educational initiatives to include the unique and specific challenges that life sentenced women experience.  This small (about 200) but significant population of women lifers has been negatively impacted by a profound lack of public awareness about their crimes, rehabilitation, contributions to returning women and their communities, and further marginalization within and by the DOC and legal community. Partly due to their remote locations in central (Muncy) and northwest (Cambridge Springs) Pennsylvania, women are far from resources that urban based universities and grassroots organizations have been providing for the male population for decades.  This manifests in the lack of women granted commutation, limited inmate directed groups, a shortage of educational opportunities, a meaningful chance to have a voice in policy changes, free legal aid, under trained staff to meet their unique needs and dilapidated buildings and furnishings. Despite this, women lifers areRead more… Read more…

Commutation – the act of reducing a sentence resulting from a criminal conviction by the executive clemency of the Governor of the State, or President of the United States in the case of federal crimes. This is not the same as a pardon which wipes out the conviction or the actual or potential charge (as when President Gerald R. Ford pardoned ex-President Richard M. Nixon even without charges having been officially made– a rare instance). A pardon implies either that the conviction was wrong, that there has been complete rehabilitation of the party, or that he/she has lived an exemplary life for many years and deserves to have his/her name cleared in old age. Commutation implies the penalty was excessive or there has been rehabilitation, reform, or other circumstances such as good conduct or community service. Commutation is sometimes used when there is evidence that the defendant was not guiltyRead more… Read more…