We’re Number One! Philly leads the nation in a dubious category: juvenile life without parole. Does it need to be this way?

David A. Love, The Philadelphia Citizen •

“We are talking about kids who are caught up in an adult system and are caught up with adult sentencing statutes,” says Marsha Levick, Deputy Director and Chief Counsel of the Juvenile Law Center (JLC). Levick notes that these laws have been on the books since the 1920s. “There have been many, many plea bargains where juveniles entered pleas to life without parole instead of being tried for murder.”