(2) While writing for the majority in Roper v. 
Simmons (125 S. Ct. 1183), a recent Supreme 
Court decision abolishing use of the death penalty 
for juveniles, Justice Kennedy declared such dif-
ferences to be ‘‘marked and well understood’’. 
(3) Notwithstanding such edicts, many youth 
are being sentenced in a manner that has typically 
been reserved for adults. These sentences include a 
term of imprisonment of life without the possibility 
of parole. 
(4) The decision to sentence youthful offenders 
to life without parole is an issue of growing national 
concern. 
(5) While there are no youth serving such sen-
tences in the rest of the world, research indicates 
that there are over 2,500 youth offenders serving life 
without parole in the United States. 
(6) The estimated rate at which the sentence of 
life without parole is imposed on children nationwide 
remains at least 3 times higher today than it was 15 
years ago. 
(7) The majority of youth sentenced to life 
without parole are first-time offenders. 
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(8) Sixteen percent of these individuals were 
age 15 or younger when they committed their 
crimes. 
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHING A MEANINGFUL OPPORTUNITY FOR 
PAROLE FOR CHILD OFFENDERS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.— 
(1) REQUIREMENTS.—For each fiscal year after 
the expiration of the period specified in subsection 
(d)(1), each State shall have in effect laws and poli-
cies under which each child offender who is serving 
a life sentence receives, not less than once during 
the first 15 years of incarceration, and not less than 
once every 3 years of incarceration thereafter, a 
meaningful opportunity for parole or other form of 
supervised release. This provision shall in no way be 
construed to limit the access of child offenders to 
other programs and appeals which they were rightly 
due prior to the enactment of this Act. 
(2) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 1 year after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney 
General shall issue guidelines and regulations to in-
terpret and implement this section. 
(b) DEFINITION.—In this section and section 4, the 
term ‘‘child offender who is serving a life sentence’’ means 
an individual who— 
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(1) is convicted of one or more offenses com-
mitted before the individual attained the age of 18; 
and 
(2) is sentenced, for such an offense or of-
fenses, to a term of imprisonment of life, or of any 
number of years exceeding 15 years, cumulatively. 
(c) APPLICABILITY.—This section shall apply to indi-
viduals sentenced before, on, or after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act. 
(d) COMPLIANCE AND CONSEQUENCES.— 
(1) COMPLIANCE DATE.—Each State shall have 
not more than 3 years from the date of enactment 
of this Act to be in compliance with this section, ex-
cept that the Attorney General may grant a 2-year 
extension to a State that is making a good faith ef-
fort to comply with this section. 
(2) CONSEQUENCE OF NONCOMPLIANCE.—For 
any fiscal year after the expiration of the period 
specified in paragraph (1), a State that fails to be 
in compliance with this section shall not receive 10 
percent of the funds that would otherwise be allo-
cated for that fiscal year to that State under sub-
part 1 of part E of title I of the Omnibus Crime 
Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 
3750 et seq.), whether characterized as the Edward 
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Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program 
or otherwise. 
(3) REALLOCATION.—Amounts not allocated 
under a program referred to in paragraph (2) to a 
State for failure to be in compliance with this sec-
tion shall be reallocated under that program to 
States that are in compliance with this section. 
SEC. 4. NOTICE TO VICTIMS. 
Each State that has in effect laws and policies in ac-
cordance with the requirements of section 3 shall, not later 
than 1 year after the date of compliance with such sec-
tion— 
(1) provide notice to the public of such laws 
and policies, which shall include— 
(A) a description of the opportunities for 
parole or supervised release available to child 
offenders who are serving a life sentence, and 
how those opportunities differ from the laws 
and policies in effect before compliance with 
section 3; and 
(B) the name and contact information of 
the office, agency, or other entity that may be 
contacted for additional information about such 
laws and policies, including the application of 
such laws and policies to a child offender who 
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is serving a life sentence, by a victim who was 
directly and proximately harmed as a result of 
an offense described in section 3(b) that was 
committed by such a child offender; and 
(2) provide procedures whereby a victim who 
was directly and proximately harmed as a result of 
an offense described in section 3(b) that was com-
mitted by a child offender who is serving a life sen-
tence may, upon request, receive information about 
the specific opportunities for parole or supervised re-
lease to be provided to such child offender in accord-
ance with such laws and policies, including dates of 
parole or supervised release hearings and notice of 
decisions granting or denying parole or supervised 
release. 
SEC. 5. ESTABLISHING A PARALLEL SYSTEM FOR CHILD 
OFFENDERS SERVING LIFE SENTENCES AT 
THE FEDERAL LEVEL. 
Section 3624 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended— 
(1) in subsection (a) by striking ‘‘A prisoner’’ 
and inserting ‘‘Except as otherwise provided by law, 
a prisoner’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
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