Murder Victims Families of Teen Killers
We are murder victims families of those killed by teens. The stories of some of our murdered loved ones can be found on our “Memorials” pages, the heart and soul of this website and organization.
Recent News:
The Michigan ACLU releases a propaganda “report” filled with misinformation about teen killers, their crimes, and their sentences. Read our debunk of the flawed publication.
Ruling expected any day from the US Supreme Court re: Sentencing of Teen Killers. Read our complete coverage: Life Sentences for Teen Killers debated before US Supreme Court. Read more – Victims Families of Teen Killers at the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, March 20, 2012 for the cases Miller v Alabama and Jackson v Hobbs (Arkansas) which will rule on whether or not life sentences for 14 year old killers violates the 8th amendment. Read our Amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court . Read the transcript of the oral argument before the Court here for the Miller v Alabama case and the Jackson v Hobbs (Arkansas) case.
Photo: NOVJL murder victim family members of those killed by teens from all over the nation at the United States Supreme Court during the argument of a case that could free their loved ones’ murderers.
NOVJL For Victims Rights and Sound Public Policy Regarding Teens Who Kill
NOVJL is devoted to victims rights and sound public policy regarding teens who kill. This website tells the true stories of those murdered by teens. We advocate for the best possible policies to prevent such tragedies from ever happening again. We exist to inform and involve victims families who have been largely left out of the public policy debate regarding teens who kill. We understand the controversy. We understand the problems in our system, and with all human beings. These crimes have been horrible beyond imagining for us, as loved ones of those who were killed. We want our loved ones to be remembered. We want justice for their murderers.
Our Organization
NOVJL recognizes and embodies the tragedy that infuses every aspect of this issue of teens who kill. We do not take any specific position on what the sentencing should be across the board for teens who kill because victims differ on the specifics, state laws and individual cases vary widely, and we support all victims families, no matter their position. We believe victims voices must be heard in the public policy debate about these very complicated matters. We insist, as is our legal right, that all victims families be informed of all matters pertaining to the sentencing and possible release of the offenders in our loved ones murders. We know the issues are complicated and run across a broad range of problems. We believe each crime and punishment should be decided on a case by case basis. The decision belongs to us all in a democracy - to the legislatures, the courts, and the legal experts familiar with the facts of each case.
We understand the problems in the criminal justice system, as with any complex human institution. We recognize it is in need of reform. We are heart-broken and we fully recognize the problems in the lives of young people who turn to violence. We do not question the intentions of most well-meaning juvenile advocates who want to help ameliorate the problems of economic issues, race, class, family disintegration, mental health, and troubled communities that contribute to crime.
But the issue of sentencing comes down to one question: are there even a few people who, while still at a young age, demonstrate that they may be very dangerous, perhaps for most of their lives?
There is no denying – even by the advocates for juvenile justice reform – that the answer is YES. There are a few (thankfully a very small number) of people who -for whatever reason - even when they are younger – show clearly that they cannot be allowed to walk among us.
NOVJL does support the availability of a wide range of sentencing options for the courts to use when looking at the individual facts of each offense and determining the best punishment and the best outcome for public safety. Offenses and offenders vary widely, and the criminal justice system needs to make complex decisions about the facts of each case.
David LaBahn and Thomas McCarthy, lawyers assisting NOVJL members
Photo: David LaBahn, Director of the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys (APA); Thomas McCarthy, Attorney from Wiley Rein law firm- Before the United States Supreme Court where they came to represent and support murder victims family members of NOVJL.
Criminal Justice is a delicate balancing process. In our lives one issue is key: If the offender appears to be an unrepentant sociopath, for example, who shows little liklihood of ever being deemed safe to be free among us, why would any caring society sentence the VICTIMS’ family to the “life sentence” of unending legal battles, unending and open-ended hearings, trials, parole hearings, and constant re-engagement with the offender that so devastated their lives? We support legal finality for murder victims families, after appropriate due process for each offender. We urge legislatures and courts to allow victims families an END to their legal process with the offender at some point. This could mean a life sentence if warranted, or a term of years. But murder victims families will always suffer horribly at the regular and protracted endless on-going proceedings that accompany frequent parole hearings, which many states offer inmates. We have seen victims families literally tortured by this unending re-engagement with their loved ones’ killer.
NOVJL does support Victims Rights to be notified of, and heard in, matters pertaining to their case. We believe that retroactive legislation to undo the completely work of courts that have duly processed a case is a violation of victims rights and due process. We believe that the existence of appeals and clemency allows generally for the system to correct mistakes. And we believe that ALL victims families must be notified of any effort to retroactively undo a life sentence - prior to any such consideration, while they can still have a say in the policy being discussed.
We do oppose the anti-victim tactics of some advocates for offender sentencing reform. We support truth telling about these cases. We request that the propaganda campaign that lies about the facts of the crimes, the facts of the sentencing, and the fact about the killers STOP. It is hurtful and harmful.
Photo: Officer Larry Lasater of Pittsburgh, California, Killed in the Line of Duty by a Teenager Sentenced to Life
JLWOP
Some of NOVJL’s members have unsolved cases, some have cases where the offenders were given minimal sentences, and others were given maximum sentences. Between a thousand and fifteen hundred murderers have been sentenced in the USA to Life Without the Possibility of Parole for crimes they committed before age 18. (Higher estimates of the number of these cases published by offender advocates have been disproven.) The acronym often used for that sentence is JLWOP – Juvenile Life Without Parole.
JLWOP is a rare and serious sentence reserved for some of the nation’s most violent offenders. Most JLWOP offenders have been incarcerated for committing unimaginably horrific and aggravated murders or multiple murders, as it is generally not possible for any age offender in the United States to receive a life sentence for a single homicide without certain aggravating factors. Most offenders serving JLWOP committed the actual murder. A smaller percentage of the cases are accomplices sentenced as equally culpable for the crimes. The Supreme Court outlawed JLWOP in 2009 for non-murder for a handful of cases, mostly in Florida.
More information is available at the “About Us” tab above.
Help Find and Support Victims Families
There are thousands of murder victims’ family members in this nation who have no idea that there is a movement that seeks to end long term and life sentences for teen killers. If you know any murder victims’ family members in cases where the offender was a teen, please encourage them to contact us for support and information.
Finally, we would ask for your support. Join us by simply getting on our email distribution list. Ask your friends who care about public safety and victims of crime to spread the word.
We are an all volunteer organization with no funding. Donations to NOVJL to help us support victims of teen killers are most welcome – see the PayPal link on the right sidebar.
Welcome to www.teenkillers.org (also www.jlwopvictims.org).
“Victims don’t want vengeance, they want healing: but there is no healing until justice is done. And justice is never ‘done’ as long as the sentence can be undone.” ~NOVJL member
Dawn Romig Testifies at the Pennsylvania State Capitol
NOVJL member, Dawn Romig of Pennsylvania
Dawn’s precious daughter Danni Reese was brutally raped and murdered. Dawn gave testimony September 2008 in Harrisburg about the life sentence in prison being served by the 17 year old killer. Dawn is one of the few victims’ family members in the United States fortunate enough to know about the political battle being waged against “juvenile life without parole” (JLWOP) sentences. Most victims in Pennsylvania have not been told that juvenile advocates are working to potentially free these convicted murderers, and that victims view as a sentence to a lifetime of re-traumatizing parole hearings. Many families achieved at least legal finality with natural life sentences for those who murdered their loved ones.
“Those under 18 years old may as a general matter have diminished culpability relative to adults who commit the same crimes, but that DOES NOT mean their culpability is always insufficient to justify a life sentence.”
~Chief Justice John Roberts, Concurring Opinion, Graham v. Florida, 2010
“Our society tends to treat the average juvenile as less culpable than the average adult. But the question here does not involve the average juvenile.”
~Justice Clarence Thomas, Dissenting Opinion, Graham v. Florida, 2010
“Daniels and several members of his family begged officials to lock up Markus Evans for an extended time . . . [but after Evans only served 14 months in juvenile custody for shooting and almost murdering Daniels, his 7th violent felony by age 15] Evans was released at age 17 with no supervision . . . Evans reported to police he was so angry that he robbed a liquor store and shot the clerk . . .17 year old Jonoshia Alexander . . .was found dead in the alley, shot in the back of her head.”
~Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 29, 2011
Sacramento Bee VIEWPOINT – August 2011 – Recommending a NO Vote on the “Flawed” SB 9 that was defeated:
“…(T)his legislation as written opens up a tangle of issues that makes its potential impact disturbing. First, a justice system that changes the rules in the middle of the game is not just. Prosecutors and judges already have discretion in seeking and imposing life-without-parole sentences and have reserved it for the ‘worst of the worst.’ . . . All states allow juveniles to be tried as adults in criminal court under certain circumstances, according to the U.S. Justice Department. . . .In all these cases, trials have been conducted, witnesses and victims’ families have testified, everyone has played by the rules. SB 9, however, is retroactive – raising serious constitutional and due-process questions. It does a legislative end run around the intent of the voters who in 2008 passed Marsy’s Law, which strengthened victims’ rights and due process. . . [giving] victims the right to ‘a speedy trial and a prompt and final conclusion of the case and any related post-judgment proceedings.’ SB 9 violates this provision by taking a final conclusion of a case and reopening it . . . retroactively introducing parole reviews for early release after a life-without-parole sentence had been imposed. Because murder victims’ families believed their case was over, they often did not retain the records and contacts they would need to be prepared for new parole hearings – an unfair violation of due process, they say. Importantly, appeals and clemency are already available for sentences deemed too harsh. Last January, for example, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger granted clemency to Sara Kruzan, who had been sentenced to life without parole for killing her 37-year-old pimp. ”
