* Why was Pendulum Foundation founded?
Social injustices confront all of us. Many of us want to make positive changes, but we feel overwhelmed. Pendulum’s founders and employees realize that we may not be able to change the world, but we can change one piece of it. What is more important than our next generation? Some of us know children serving life sentences. Others believe in redemption rather than retribution. Still others believe that no child, whether living in an abusive household or incarcerated in an adult prison, should be thrown away.
We believe one person can make a difference – as can one organization.
* What is the difference between the Pendulum Foundation and the Pendulum Juvenile Justice?
Pendulum Foundation is a 501c(3) non-profit. Our mission is to educate the public, in a non-partisan fashion, about children in adult prisons. We also provide programs and educational opportunities that will transform the lives of young men and women inside adult prisons, exiting prison, and serving time in juvenile facilities. Pendulum Juvenile Justice, a 501c(4), is our political arm. Juvenile Justice works with legislators and community leaders to change sentencing laws and to elect politicians who believe that children should never be treated as harshly as adults.
We ran bills in the Colorado Legislature in 2003 and 2005. Our last bill was passed by the house and senate, only to be vetoed by Colorado’s Governor Owens.
* Why do you focus on children serving life without parole (LWOP)?
Because those children have no hope. As egregious as many sentences for juveniles are, most at least have a chance of getting out – though many will be so institutionalized their chances for success (without Pendulum programs) are minimal. Besides, Colorado has around 50 kids serving life. We are appalled by that figure. Furthermore, there is a disproportionate number of minority youth serving life. While 4.4% of Colorado’s population is African-American, 26.7% of those serving life are black. We have kids as young as 14 serving life. According to Human Rights Watch, we have around 22 kids serving life for felony murder, meaning that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They never actually killed anybody.
All in all, we think children serving life without parole is uncivilized and unworthy of our great nation.
* How do you respond to the adage, "If they're old enough to do the crime, they're old enough to do the time?"
This is a favorite statement of legislators, law enforcement officials and some members of the public. But simply repeating a cliché a million times doesn’t make that cliché true. And it isn’t. Child psychologists, juvenile justice experts and all reputable study, including a groundbreaking MacArthur Foundation study entitled JUVENILES’ COMPETENCE TO STAND TRIAL, states that many teens are psychologically incapable of understanding court proceedings.
Yet these kids are being charged as adults and expected to mount a competent defense. Furthermore, the brains of children who have been badly abused or neglected, as is the case with many of our 50 LWOPs, do not develop normally. Some are always in flight or flight mode or suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Yet, because some of them look like adults and others appear physically intimidating or threatening, we react like bad parents -- out of fear and rage and the desire for revenge.
We at Pendulum Foundation and Pendulum Juvenile Justice believe in prevention and intervention, not incarceration.
* What's wrong with holding teens accountable for their actions?
Teens should be held accountable – but in the juvenile justice system. Most states, including Texas, hardly a touchy-feely state, give their capital offenders hard time, up to 40 years. But Texas offenders are also given the opportunity for rehabilitation and are enrolled in tough programs dedicated to re-socializing them and making them take responsibility for their crimes. Juveniles who successfully complete their multi-year program are paroled for the remainder of a 40-year sentence. If they do not successfully complete their program or later violate parole, they’re thrown into adult prison. The choice is theirs.
Whether dealing with homicides or less violent crimes, other states give their children a second chance. Polls say that around 70 % of Coloradans believe that children can be rehabilitated and should not receive adult sentences.
* District attorneys say "Only the worst of the worst face life without parole. Why shouldn't cold blooded killers be locked up forever?"
The worst of the worst aren’t the only kids forever thrown away. Some of our Lost Boys, as we call our 50, pulled the trigger. Others were simply at the scene of the crime. One teen was involved in a killing that in an adjoining county would have resulted in a charge of vehicular homicide or a few years in a juvenile facility. Some DAs plea bargain with gangbangers bearing long rap sheets who can rat out their fellow members, while throwing the book at kids who have never previously been in trouble. Statistically, those who murder have a 2% chance of EVER killing again and almost never commit even a minor crime. Long rap sheets are a far better indicator of a career criminal than murder.
Ironically, our Colorado teens often receive far harsher sentences than adults who have committed equally egregious acts. In addition, while some female defendants who claim the battered woman defense receive less jail time than otherwise, that same enlightened attitude is seldom extended to a battered child.
We at Pendulum Foundation have visited local juvenile facilities such as Lookout Mountain and Ridgeview Academy and Colorado’s Youth Offender System (YOS). These facilities already house kids who have killed. Because of enlightened prosecutors or good defense attorneys, these teens are given a second chance. Most professionals who work hands-on with these kids say the seriousness of their crime has nothing to do with their capacity for rehabilitation and doesn’t make them any riskier to deal with.
* Why are so many of Colorado's juveniles sent to adult prison -- even for property crimes?
Colorado is only one of 15 states which has direct file, meaning that district attorneys have total discretion as to whether they will file a child in juvenile or adult court. There are no guidelines and no paper trail required of prosecutors to justify the reasoning behind their decisions. Some district attorneys adhere to rigorous self-imposed guidelines before charging a teen as an adult. Others don’t. While prosecutors are quick to assert that they do not make decisions based on political rationale, think about it. Aren’t prosecutors forever saying that a jury should never solely rely on a defendant’s word without accompanying proof? Yet prosecutors expect legislators and the public to accept their assurance that these kids are properly filed in the adult court simply because they say so.
