Will Pennsylvania Resident Jordan Brown Be The Youngest Person In The World To Serve A Life Sentence?

Not much goes on in Wampum, Pennsylvania. Located about 50 miles outside of Pittsburgh, the Lawrence County borough is home to less than 1,000 people, over 17% of which live below poverty level. In 2009, 11 year old resident Jordan Brown (pictured here, in a photo provided by Lawrence County Prison) was described as a normal “all-American boy”. He enjoyed local leisure activities such as football, riding bikes, reading Harry Potter books and hunting. A year later, Jordan, now 12, faces grown up charges with a possibility of life in prison without parole.

On February 20, 2009, 26-year-old Kenzie Houk was found lifeless in bed with a bullet from a 20-gauge shotgun through her head. She was eight months pregnant with a baby boy and a mother to two girls. Her boyfriend’s son, 11-year-old Jordan, was identified as the murder suspect and faces two counts of homicide, one including the unborn child.

Because the state of Pennsylvania offers no reprieve in convictions due to age, it’s no surprise that it has the highest total number of juvenile lifers. This means that Jordan could very well spend the rest of his life behind bars for a crime committed when he was a child. According to the University of Pittsburgh, if kept in criminal court and convicted, Jordan will be the youngest person in the world serving a life sentence.

While Jordan’s defense attorney requested a decertification hearing to determine whether or not he will be tried as an adult or in juvenile court, it could be months before a decision is made. In the meantime, friends and family have started a trust fund in his name for his defense. Jordan’s attorney claims that the boy is open and readily able to comply with juvenile rehabilitation, and that it should be offered as an alternative to an adult sentence.

When the Supreme Court decided in 2005 that the barbaric practice of sentencing minors to death was cruel and unusual punishment, it was one step in a promising direction. However, life sentences need to be reexamined as well. According to studies reported on MSNBC, at least 2,381 people are serving life without parole in U.S. prisons for crimes when they were 17 or younger.

One aspect of this case does not fit the common racial component; Jordan being Caucasian while the majority of juvenile lifers are minorities. However, the bottom line is juvenile justice sees no race or economic status. When you peel back the layers and think logically about what’s happening in our society, the answers are multi-dimensional.

Particularly in the case of Jordan Brown, 11-years-old is a confusing, uncertain and impressionable age. There are too few studies that exist that prove that sentencing children to life in prison without a chance of parole is a better means of punishment over rehabilitation and counseling. In fact, Connie de la Vegas, a law professor at University of San Francisco School of Law insists that for juveniles, life in prison without a chance of parole is exactly the wrong thing to do, and that juvenile offenders should be given a chance to rehabilitate themselves and apply for parole, even if it’s after 10 or 15 years.

Are we going give up and let another one of our children become a statistic? Or are we going to challenge the system, demand better treatment, accountability and commitment of rehabilitation for our children?

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krysten