In response to the Supreme Court’s decision on Jones v. Mississippi, Bruce Lesley, President of First Focus on Children issued the following statement:
“We are deeply concerned by the damage the Supreme Court’s reversal of its own precedent inflicts on the protection of children against life without parole. The Jones v. Mississippi decision effectively allows judges to put children in prison for life without first explicitly determining whether their crimes reflect ‘irreparable corruption.’ What person is fully formed as a child? Who are we as a nation if we allow children to spend their lives behind bars without the possibility of redemption? Scholars have noted the intellectual insincerity of Justice Kavanaugh’s decision. But we are concerned with the well-being of our nation’s system-involved youth and with the message that this decision sends to the world about who we are and how we value our children.”