Rep. Bowen to Host Virtual Legislative Briefing on Juvenile Life Without Parole

MILWAUKEE – State Rep. David Bowen (D-Milwaukee) will be hosting a virtual legislative briefing on Juvenile Life Without Parole next Monday, January 25th from 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm. This briefing will be covered live and archived to view after on Wisconsin Eye. In advance of the briefing, Rep. Bowen released the following statement:

“I am excited to announce my first briefing of this legislative session on a critically important topic, one that will guarantee that children will not be sent to prison for the rest of their lives based on a crime they committed as a teenager, long before their brain is fully developed. I am equally as excited to be joined by such a strong coalition of advocates and experts from across Wisconsin and the country to highlight this issue to my legislative colleagues.”

Joining Rep. Bowen for the briefing will be Martha Askins of Madison, an attorney and former assistant state public defender who will discuss the legal landscape in Wisconsin and the impact that Supreme Court rulings have had on this issue; Dr. David Thompson of Burlington, a clinical psychologist with over two decades of experience working with adolescents who will discuss juvenile brain development; Preston Shipp, Eric Alexander, and Scott Budnik from the national Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (CFSY) who will bring a national context to the conversation, and; Dominee Meek and Garland Hampton from the Wisconsin Alliance for Youth Justice (WAYJ) who were both incarcerated at the age of 15 for over 25 years and will discuss their experience with the juvenile justice system, as well as Mary Rezin, a fellow WAYJ member and an impacted victim who will discuss her path to forgiveness.

“The goal of this briefing is to illustrate to legislators on both sides of the aisle how urgent this topic is, and how we can work together in pursuing bipartisan justice reform which is my #1 priority this session. It is my goal that this will be the start of a needed conversation that leads to Wisconsin joining the twenty-three other states (including Texas, Arkansas, and Kentucky) in banning this outdated practice.”