Let’s end mandatory life sentences for young adults | Opinion

When I was 18 years old, I “borrowed” my family’s convertible (without permission) and started to drive with a girlfriend to the Jersey Shore. About halfway there, a motorcycle pulled up beside us with two young men I didn’t know on it. The driver yelled into my car, “Why don’t we switch vehicles?” It seemed like a really great idea at the time, so we all pulled over to the side of the road. I got out of the car, got on the motorcycle behind the driver, and the guy who was a passenger on the motorcycle got behind the wheel of the car with my friend. We drove to the Shore and all was well. Thank goodness. I think now, as an adult, about all that could easily have gone wrong that day. I was so lucky. We were all lucky. But that is the brain of an 18-year-old.

Meanwhile, when they were 18 and 19 years old, brothers Reid and Wyatt Evans drove with their friend to participate in an armed carjacking robbery. Their victim was my father. After they carjacked my father, he informed them he had a heart condition, and they dropped him off at a phone booth to call for help. He died of a heart attack three hours later. It was a terrible tragedy that never should have happened. But it did. Those were also the brains of teenagers.

Reid and Wyatt Evans were arrested and tried as adults, as accomplices to this crime, and were given the mandatory sentence for second-degree “felony” murder in Pennsylvania: life in prison without parole — basically a death sentence because there is no recourse. Pennsylvania’s second-degree murder statute can apply to anyone involved in certain kinds of felonies relating to someone’s death, like the carjacking against my father, including those who were merely present or who did not mean to cause a death, like the Evans brothers.

» READ MORE: From one victim’s family, a call to abolish life sentences for second-degree murder | Opinion

Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity did an extensive audit last year of the second-degree prison population and found that 73.3% of people convicted of second-degree murder in Pennsylvania were 25 or younger at the time of the crime, and more than half were 21 or younger.

The relationship between age and crime has been established for at least 200 years, with findings consistently showing that crime rises sharply in one’s early to mid-teens, peaks in the late teens, and declines steadily thereafter. This is not only generally true, it’s also true for crimes of violence. Because people “age out” of crime by their 40s, fewer crimes are committed by older adults, and crimes of violence are hardly ever repeated.

That Reid and Wyatt’s young age played a role in their decision-making in the crime against my father is more than just my belief. A very well-developed body of research has shown that the adolescent brain hasn’t fully developed until approximately age 25. Until that point, biology contributes to greater risk-taking, vulnerability to peer pressure, and limited foresight into consequences — exactly the situation with my joy ride to the Shore, and with the Evans brothers the night they robbed my father, not knowing it would end in his death.

The U.S. Supreme Court has used these findings to rule that mandatory life sentences are unconstitutional for those under the age of 18. But the factors that characterize youth don’t magically disappear upon one’s 18th birthday. Neuroscientists, behavioral psychologists, legal experts, and criminologists agree that these behaviors extend into one’s 20s, yet there is currently no relief for those who fall on the wrong side of 18.

» READ MORE: ‘They don’t deserve to die in prison’: Gov. Wolf grants clemency to 13 lifers

With the support of my family, Reid and Wyatt Evans had their life sentences commuted at the ages of 58 and 59 in 2021, after spending almost 40 years in prison. At the time of their release, it was clear they were no longer the reckless teenagers who had harmed my father.

I met with the Evans brothers at my church in April, a few months after they had been released. They were soft-spoken, warm, and kind. They apologized profusely for their actions that night. They told me that they did not fully understand the truth of what they had done until they saw my mother in the courtroom and felt the depth of her devastation and inconsolable pain about the loss of her beloved husband, my father. They knew they were in prison because of their crime against my father, and they did not shy away from their responsibility in his death. They thought about it, knew what they had done and why they were in prison, and they regretted it every day for 40 years.

Both the Evans family and my family shared unimaginable pain, yet I fully believe people are not the worst thing they have ever done. I am certainly not the same person I was when I was 18, and seeing the Evans brothers home and thriving assures me that they aren’t, either. I also believe that there has to be justice on the other end of punishment, where someone has paid for their crime and is able to get a second chance. Doesn’t everyone deserve a second chance?

Nancy Leichter is a media analyst for Ad Fontes Media. She lives in her hometown of Philadelphia. Andrea Lindsay, the lead investigator and mitigation specialist for Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity, contributed to this piece.