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Dear friend,

With many of the state legislative sessions wrapped up for the year, we wanted to provide you with some exciting updates on recent victories for second chance sentencing legislation!

At the end of last year, the Washington, D.C. council passed the Second Look Amendment Act. This groundbreaking reform went into effect on April 27, 2021. Under this new reform, people given extreme sentences for offenses committed before their 25th birthday can petition for resentencing after serving 15 years.

Maryland passed a law allowing individuals sentenced to extreme sentences as a minor to petition the courts for resentencing after serving 20 years.

In Illinois , the state legislature passed two second chance sentencing reforms. First, the legislature created a much-needed compassionate release program to release terminally ill and permanently incapacitated individuals from Illinois prisons. The second reform allows Illinois prosecutors to petition the courts for resentencing if a person's sentence no longer advances the interest of justice. Gov. Pritzker must sign both bills in order for these reforms to become law.

Oregon also passed a bill that will allow District Attorneys and incarcerated people to file petitions for resentencing and allow the courts to adjust the sentence if it no longer advances the interest of justice. Gov. Brown must sign this bill in order for this reform to become law.

The Missouri legislature passed legislation that would provide parole eligibility to juveniles given life sentences after they serve 15 years, unless the crime was murder. Gov. Parson must sign this bill in order for this reform to become law.

Finally, the Louisiana legislature passed a bill that would restore parole eligibility to some people over age 45 who have served 20 years for an armed robbery conviction. The bill also makes 2017 reforms retroactive, allowing people serving three-strike sentences to be considered for parole after 15 years if their most recent offense was a nonviolent felony.

The second chance sentencing movement is clearly catching on, and we saw lots of important victories during the first half of 2021. We have even bigger plans for the year ahead, and we are going to need your help to turns those plans into law.

You can start now by signing on to our Second Chances Agenda. Join the fight! [link removed] [[link removed]]

Best,

Kevin Ring [[link removed]]

Kevin Ring
President, FAMM
1100 H Street NW | Suite 1000 | Washington, D.C. xxxxxx | Tel: (202) 822-6700
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