Take, for example, the case of Stacey Torrance, an individual identified by the Fair Punishment Project (a joint initiative of Harvard Law School’s Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice and its Criminal Justice Institute, The Accountable Justice Collaborative at The Advocacy Fund and The Bronx Defender). Stacey was only 14 years old when he was involved in his cousin and another man’s plans to commit a burglary. He did not know the crime would end in a homicide. And yet, despite his youth and the fact that he was not present for the killing, Torrance was convicted of the murder and sentenced to life without parole.

Get the think newsletter. This site is protected by recaptcha

Since then, however, Stacey found his passion working as an electrician. He made 42 cents an hour doing this work for the prison and dreamt of continuing this work on the outside.

After the Supreme Court's decision, Torrance got his second chance at life. He can now, at over 40 years old, do things he’s never done before: get a job, pay a bill, drive a car.

Robert "Saleem" Holbrook just wants the same chance. He was 16 years old when he served as a lookout for what he was told would be a drug deal. The incident ended with a killing that he did not participate in or anticipate, yet he was convicted of second-degree murder. Since then, Saleem has written articles for newspapers, joined the Human Rights Coalition and written a survivor's manual to assist juveniles and their families in navigating juvenile life without parole.

These are just two examples of the hundreds of people sentenced to life without parole in Pennsylvania. There are thousands more like them across the U.S. No one is saying they shouldn’t be held accountable, but should they be prevented from ever redeeming themselves?

The infuriating irony here is that the kids who have received life without parole sentences are, in many ways, the young people who needed our help the most. According to study conducted by the Sentencing Project, 79% of this population witnessed violence in their homes growing up, 40% were enrolled in special education classes, nearly half experienced physical abuse, and three-quarters of the girls had experienced sexual abuse.