Collections by Michelle Brown Blog Radio wsg Author James Windell

It should come as no surprise that young people given life without the possibility of parole sentences have been disproportionately Black and Brown.

James Windell, the author of Sentencing Youth to Life in Prison: Justice Denied is an adjunct faculty member in Criminal Justice, a court clinical psychologist, and has more than 25 years of conducting group therapy with delinquent adolescents.

The Supreme Court decisions in Miller v. Alabama and Montgomery v. Louisiana clearly demonstrated that the Court’s view of juveniles evolved over decades to reflect advances in our understanding of the unique characteristics of youth and their involvement in juvenile crimes.

This book, co-written with Kathy Miliken Boyd, analyzes the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court rulings deeming juvenile life without parole sentences to be cruel and unusual punishment. These Court decisions brought about controversy and resistance in the criminal justice field, while at the same time providing hope for those 2,300 people who never thought they had a chance to experience life as an adult outside prison.

By looking in depth at the lives of some of the individuals serving life terms and understanding both the prosecutors who oppose review and resentencing of juvenile lifers and those who are sincerely following the Supreme Court’s guidelines, this book provides a comprehensive understanding of the issues.