This book examines how attorneys enable a meaningful opportunity for
release for individuals sentenced to life as juveniles. The work
provides a detailed overview of how legal representation facilitates
opportunities for release for juveniles sentenced to life: "juvenile
lifers". It contributes to the broader literature on the importance of
legal representation in the criminal legal system by investigating the
role of an attorney in the parole process. Drawing on interviews with
lawyers and qualitative content analyses of attorney participation in
parole recordings from one state, the study illustrates how attorney
assistance provides an important due process protection in the highly
discretionary context of parole. The analysis of attorney representation
is situated in the history of how they became prominent in the criminal
legal system, and how their assistance has been viewed as vital in the
parole process. Prior criminological and legal research relates the
impact a lawyer can have by preparing a juvenile lifer candidate to
present a suitable narrative for release, one that relates their
diminished criminal culpability and rehabilitative efforts to prepare
for life beyond prison.
The work will be relevant to students, academics, and policy makers,
particularly for state parole boards, public defender agencies, and
legislatures. While the analysis is based on the experience of one
state, the findings are generalizable to other states and countries that
similarly conduct parole board hearings for not just their juvenile
populations but also adults.
