Charles Ogletree Jr. is a professor of law at Harvard Law School and chair of the American Bar Association’s Juvenile Justice Committee.

Laura Farber is chair of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Youth at Risk.

Paolo Annino is a clinical professor at Florida State University’s College of Law and runs the Children in Prison Project at FSU.

Read the 2007 report by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency about the differing treatment of juvenile offenders according to race.

Read a summary of Graham v. Flordia, a 2009 Supreme Court case that led to the ruling that juveniles cannot be sentenced to life in prison for non-homicidal offenses.

Read is a Nov. 12, 2009, essay about the religious element to sentencing juveniles to life without parole posted at Sightings by Joan Gottschall, a U.S. district judge for the Northern District of Illinois and a member of the Visiting Committee to the University of Chicago Divinity School.

Read an April 13, 2010, post by Jesuit priest John Coleman at the blog of America magazine about the possibility of sentencing juveniles to life without parole.

Read a May 21, 2010, segment by Religion & Ethics Newsweekly about the Supreme Court decision against life sentences without parole for juveniles. The PBS program broadcast a number of reports leading up to the ruling.

The Youth For Christ Juvenile Justice Ministries reaches out to youth in detention centers, group homes, correctional center and more to engage them in “relational outreach.” The ministry emphasizes  spiritual, physical, mental and emotional growth. Contact Jake Bland.