States across the country enacted major reforms to their criminal justice systems in the past year, especially in the areas of sentencing, juvenile justice, and reducing job discrimination for people who were formerly incarcerated.
A new report published Wednesday by the research and advocacy organization The Sentencing Project summarized criminal justice reforms in the 30 states that passed related legislation in 2014.
Juvenile Justice
The United States incarcerates more of its youth than any other country in the world. It is also the only country that sentences youth to life in prison for crimes they committed before they turned 18.
In a 2012 Supreme Court decision, Miller v. Alabama, the practice of mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole for juvenile defendants was ruled unconstitutional. But some states continue to give out life without parole as punishment for young offenders.
Research has shown many youth who committed crimes eventually “age out” of criminal behavior when they become adults. The phenomenon is known as “desistance” in the world of criminal justice policy.
This year, West Virginia and Hawaii abolished the practice of giving out life sentences without parole. Eligible inmates in Hawaii are allowed a parole hearing every year, while in West Virginia, all youth, regardless of their offense, are up for parole after serving 15 years.
In Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, and Washington, lawmakers made changes to authorize parole for some categories of youth offenders, or raised the age of offenders who could be subject to life without parole. New Hampshire’s Supreme Court also ruled that the Miller v. Alabama decision will apply retroactively to four inmates who were sentenced to life without parole prior to the U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Job Discrimination
Many jurisdictions also passed laws to “ban the box,” or legislation that prohibits employers from inquiring about a job applicant’s criminal history for discriminatory reasons.
Nationwide, about 65 million Americans have a criminal record, according to the National Employment Law Project, a research and advocacy group.
