Child Advocacy & Juvenile Justice Clinic Students Testify to Reform Minnesota's Juvenile Sentencing Laws

Since 2013, students in the Law School's Child Advocacy & Juvenile Justice Clinic and Professor Perry Moriearty have worked to reform Minnesota's Heinous Crimes Act, which became unconstitutional in 2012 when the U.S. Supreme Court banned the mandatory imposition of life in prison without parole for children. Over the course of a decade, the Clinic drafted multiple bills, met with legislators, convened stakeholders, partnered with national advocates, and prepared and delivered testimony to committees of the Minnesota Senate and House of Representatives. In May 2023, the legislature amended Minn. Stat. 244.05, making Minnesota the 28th state in the country to abolish life without parole for children. The new law makes anyone incarcerated as a juvenile eligible for release after serving 15 years (unless they are serving multiple sentences for offenses involving more than one victim) and has already had an impact on dozens of people who thought they would spend their lives in prison.

On March 22, 2024, clinic student Kate Riggers '25 testified before the Minnesota Senate Judiciary Committee in support of additional amendments to the 2023 law. The testimony was the culmination of a semester of work by clinic students, including Riggers,  Christian Purnell '24, Shannon Kuster '25, Madeson Martin '25, Lucy Moran '25, Rachel Pederson '25, and Kyle Rounds '25.