Letters to a Lifer

Cindy Sanford

Waterside Press 

Sozialwissenschaften, Recht, Wirtschaft / Sozialwissenschaften allgemein

Beschreibung

Letters to a Lifer provides a rare insight into life without parole (LWOP) for juveniles in the USA. A true story from Pennsylvania, it is a compelling tale of faith and redemption. Cindy Sanford tells how a chance correspondence with Ken, a prisoner artist, began to change her entrenched ideas about offenders. Her book now adds voice to the work of the USA’s National Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth and will also be of interest to students of restorative justice. In 1999, America’s Most Wanted broadcast details of a notorious crime. Twelve years later Cindy was introduced to Ken, one of the two boys convicted, through his remarkable wildlife art. By then a young man, Ken had spent half his life in prison. Initially wary, Cindy was surprised to find him humble, polite and deeply grateful for her interest. Gradually she and her family were able to look beyond his crime to the person he had become. Despite a hardening of attitudes generally towards offenders in the USA and other parts of the western world, Letters to a Lifer shows why the campaign against LWOP sentences for juveniles is nonetheless gaining momentum. Cindy Sanford is a self-proclaimed “tough on crime” advocate whose accidental meeting with a juvenile lifer prompted a re-examination of long held values and beliefs. She is a registered nurse, the mother of three sons and the wife of a Wildlife Conservation Officer. She lives in Bloomsbury, USA.With a moving Foreword by Illinois public defender Jeanne Bishop whose own sister was killed by a minor who, like Ken, received LWOP.Virtually half-a-century has passed since the last Royal Commission on the Penal System was dissolved, its work uncompleted. Looking forwards, six members of the Commission asserted that ‘after some years’ a new Royal Commission would be of great public service. As commentators, writers and practitioners, Sir Louis Blom-Cooper QC and Professor Seán McConville have many decades of experience of penal policy and practice. Some 20-years ago they urged the appointment of a new Royal Commission on the subject. They have since pressed their case in letters to major newspapers and in earlier writings. In this publication the momentum for which is supported by leading figures, they make the case for a new Royal Commission that will be reflective, effective and swift, capable of building consensus and providing directions for generations. They argue that penal policy is fragmented and frequently irrational, contradictory, counterproductive, insubstantial and put together in a haphazard way. The dynamics and pressures of party politics inevitably mean that penal policy often emerges in response to hard cases and headlines. As this pamphlet claims, broader and more considered views, drawing on evidence and seeking to maximise social good, cannot be delivered by politicians afraid of missing an opportunity to score party political points.AuthorsSeán McConville is Professor of Law and Public Policy at Queen Mary, University of London. He is the author of a multi-volume history of punishment and his most recent works include Irish Political Prisoners 1920–1962: Pilgrimage of Desolation (Routledge, 2013) and Routledge Guide to Interviewing (with Anna Bryson) (Routledge, 2013). Sir Louis Blom-Cooper QC appeared in many high-profile trials. He holds a number of honorary doctorates and is a fellow of King’s College, London. His books include Fine, Lines and Distinctions: Murder, Manslaughter and the Taking of Human Life (with Terence Morris) (2011). Author of the ForewordSir Henry Brooke is a former Lord Justice of Appeal. He was the judge in charge of the modernisation of the English law courts from 2001 to 2004.

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Letters to a Lifer

Cindy Sanford

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