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Day two of David Pecker testimony wraps in NY Trump trial; Supreme Court hears arguments on Idaho's near-total abortion ban; ND sees a flurry of campaigning among Native candidates; and NH lags behind other states in restricting firearms at polling sites.

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The Senate moves forward with a foreign aid package. A North Carolina judge overturns an aged law penalizing released felons. And child protection groups call a Texas immigration policy traumatic for kids.

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The urban-rural death divide is widening for working-age Americans, many home internet connections established for rural students during COVID have been broken and a new federal rule aims to put the "public" back in public lands.

Report: Parole Decisions Should Take Age into Account

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Thursday, December 1, 2016   

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — U.S. Supreme Court rulings have made it possible for prisoners who were sentenced as juveniles to life without parole to be eligible for release from prison. But a new report says very few are being granted parole.

A national report from the ACLU, called "False Hope," found that across the country, parole boards rarely consider a person's age at the time of an offense when evaluating applications for parole.

According to Sarah Mehta, a human rights researcher at the ACLU and the author of the report, parole boards often have thousands of cases to decide, and are therefore frequently only concerned with the circumstances of the original crime.

"That's often the only thing they have a chance to see, and not all the extensive rehabilitation, letters of support, low-risk analysis and the other factors that are really important,” Mehta explained.

The report said that even in states that have full parole hearings, parole is granted to fewer than 20 percent of prisoners serving life sentences.

Studies have shown that people generally "age out" of criminal activity, no matter how serious their offenses. But, Mehta said, those who were sentenced as teenagers may still spend decades behind bars - even if they are considered model prisoners.

"For parole boards, there hasn't been the political support to release people who are doing well now if they committed a serious offense 30, 40, 50 years ago,” she said; "despite what the Supreme Court has said."

Failure to grant parole has become a racial justice issue as well. Across the country, Mehta said, people of color are far more likely to be given long sentences.




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