I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2289 

To establish a meaningful opportunity for parole or similar release for child 

offenders sentenced to life in prison, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 6, 2009 

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia (for himself and Mr. CONYERS) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To establish a meaningful opportunity for parole or similar 

release for child offenders sentenced to life in prison, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Juvenile Justice Ac5 countability and Improvement Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Historically, courts in the United States 

9 have recognized the undeniable differences between 

10 adult and youth offenders. 


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1 (2) While writing for the majority in Roper v. 

2 Simmons (125 S. Ct. 1183), a recent Supreme 

3 Court decision abolishing use of the death penalty 

4 for juveniles, Justice Kennedy declared such dif5 ferences to be ‘‘marked and well understood’’. 

6 (3) Notwithstanding such edicts, many youth 

7 are being sentenced in a manner that has typically 

8 been reserved for adults. These sentences include a 

9 term of imprisonment of life without the possibility 

10 of parole. 

11 (4) The decision to sentence youthful offenders 

12 to life without parole is an issue of growing national 

13 concern. 

14 (5) While there are no youth serving such sen15 tences in the rest of the world, research indicates 

16 that there are over 2,500 youth offenders serving life 

17 without parole in the United States. 

18 (6) The estimated rate at which the sentence of 

19 life without parole is imposed on children nationwide 

20 remains at least 3 times higher today than it was 15 

21 years ago. 

22 (7) The majority of youth sentenced to life 

23 without parole are first-time offenders. 


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1 (8) Sixteen percent of these individuals were 

2 age 15 or younger when they committed their 

3 crimes. 

4 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHING A MEANINGFUL OPPORTUNITY FOR 

5 PAROLE FOR CHILD OFFENDERS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

7 (1) REQUIREMENTS.—For each fiscal year after 

8 the expiration of the period specified in subsection 

9 (d)(1), each State shall have in effect laws and poli10 cies under which each child offender who is serving 

11 a life sentence receives, not less than once during 

12 the first 15 years of incarceration, and not less than 

13 once every 3 years of incarceration thereafter, a 

14 meaningful opportunity for parole or other form of 

15 supervised release. This provision shall in no way be 

16 construed to limit the access of child offenders to 

17 other programs and appeals which they were rightly 

18 due prior to the enactment of this Act. 

19 (2) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 1 year after 

20 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney 

21 General shall issue guidelines and regulations to in22 terpret and implement this section. 

23 (b) DEFINITION.—In this section and section 4, the 

24 term ‘‘child offender who is serving a life sentence’’ means 

25 an individual who— 


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1 (1) is convicted of one or more offenses com2 mitted before the individual attained the age of 18; 

3 and 

4 (2) is sentenced, for such an offense or of5 fenses, to a term of imprisonment of life, or of any 

6 number of years exceeding 15 years, cumulatively. 

7 (c) APPLICABILITY.—This section shall apply to indi8 viduals sentenced before, on, or after the date of the enact9 ment of this Act. 

10 (d) COMPLIANCE AND CONSEQUENCES.— 

11 (1) COMPLIANCE DATE.—Each State shall have 

12 not more than 3 years from the date of enactment 

13 of this Act to be in compliance with this section, ex14 cept that the Attorney General may grant a 2-year 

15 extension to a State that is making a good faith ef16 fort to comply with this section. 

17 (2) CONSEQUENCE OF NONCOMPLIANCE.—For 

18 any fiscal year after the expiration of the period 

19 specified in paragraph (1), a State that fails to be 

20 in compliance with this section shall not receive 10 

21 percent of the funds that would otherwise be allo22 cated for that fiscal year to that State under sub23 part 1 of part E of title I of the Omnibus Crime 

24 Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 

25 3750 et seq.), whether characterized as the Edward 


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1 Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program 

2 or otherwise. 

3 (3) REALLOCATION.—Amounts not allocated 

4 under a program referred to in paragraph (2) to a 

5 State for failure to be in compliance with this sec6 tion shall be reallocated under that program to 

7 States that are in compliance with this section. 

8 SEC. 4. NOTICE TO VICTIMS. 

9 Each State that has in effect laws and policies in ac10 cordance with the requirements of section 3 shall, not later 

11 than 1 year after the date of compliance with such sec12 tion— 

13 (1) provide notice to the public of such laws 

14 and policies, which shall include— 

15 (A) a description of the opportunities for 

16 parole or supervised release available to child 

17 offenders who are serving a life sentence, and 

18 how those opportunities differ from the laws 

19 and policies in effect before compliance with 

20 section 3; and 

21 (B) the name and contact information of 

22 the office, agency, or other entity that may be 

23 contacted for additional information about such 

24 laws and policies, including the application of 

25 such laws and policies to a child offender who 


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1 is serving a life sentence, by a victim who was 

2 directly and proximately harmed as a result of 

3 an offense described in section 3(b) that was 

4 committed by such a child offender; and 

5 (2) provide procedures whereby a victim who 

6 was directly and proximately harmed as a result of 

7 an offense described in section 3(b) that was com8 mitted by a child offender who is serving a life sen9 tence may, upon request, receive information about 

10 the specific opportunities for parole or supervised re11 lease to be provided to such child offender in accord12 ance with such laws and policies, including dates of 

13 parole or supervised release hearings and notice of 

14 decisions granting or denying parole or supervised 

15 release. 

16 SEC. 5. ESTABLISHING A PARALLEL SYSTEM FOR CHILD 

17 OFFENDERS SERVING LIFE SENTENCES AT 

18 THE FEDERAL LEVEL. 

19 Section 3624 of title 18, United States Code, is 

20 amended— 

21 (1) in subsection (a) by striking ‘‘A prisoner’’ 

22 and inserting ‘‘Except as otherwise provided by law, 

23 a prisoner’’; and 

24 (2) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(g) OPPORTUNITY FOR RELEASE FOR CHILD OF2 FENDERS SERVING A LIFE SENTENCE.—Not later than 

3 1 year after the date of the enactment of this subsection, 

4 the Attorney General shall establish and implement a sys5 tem of opportunity for release that will apply to child of6 fenders who are serving a life sentence (as defined in sec7 tion 3 of the Juvenile Justice Accountability and Improve8 ment Act of 2009) for Federal offenses. The system shall 

9 conform as nearly as practicable to the laws and policies 

10 required of a State under section 3(a) of such Act and 

11 shall include provision for the same or similar notice to 

12 victims as States are required to provide under section 4 

13 of such Act. The system shall be in addition to any other 

14 method of release that might apply to such an offender.’’. 

15 SEC. 6. GRANTS TO IMPROVE LEGAL REPRESENTATION OF 

16 CHILDREN FACING OR SERVING LIFE IN 

17 PRISON. 

18 (a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Attorney General 

19 shall, subject to the availability of appropriations, award 

20 grants to States to improve the quality of legal representa21 tion of certain child defendants and child offenders by pro22 viding for competent legal representation for individuals 

23 who— 

24 (1) are charged with committing an offense, be25 fore the individual attained the age of 18, that is 


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1 subject to a sentence that may include a term of im2 prisonment of life, or the functional equivalent in 

3 years or more; or 

4 (2) are convicted of an offense committed be5 fore the individual attained the age of 18, and are 

6 sentenced to a term of imprisonment of life, or the 

7 functional equivalent in years or more, for that of8 fense, and who seek appellate or collateral relief, in9 cluding review in the Supreme Court of the United 

10 States. 

11 (b) LEGAL REPRESENTATION.—In this section, the 

12 term ‘‘legal representation’’ means legal counsel and inves13 tigative, expert, and other services necessary for com14 petent representation. 

15 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

16 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

17 such sums as may be necessary. 

Æ 


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