- 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 clich� a million times doesn�t make that clich� 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.