Last year, documentary audiences first met Kenneth Young, a man sentenced to life in prison in Florida for crimes he committed as a young teenager.
A year later, advocates still are spreading his story, hoping it will help end sentences of juvenile life without parole in communities across the country.
The engagement campaign around the film, “15 to Life: Kenneth’s Story,” is a way to change culture, not just laws, supporters said at a screening of the film on Monday.
The film follows the legal fight of Young, who was sentenced to four consecutive terms of life without the possibility of parole for his role in a series of armed robberies when he was 14 and 15 years old.
The filmmakers have teamed with the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youthto host dozens of community screenings and panel discussions that explore the question of juvenile life without parole, using Young’s story as a jumping-off point.
Young’s lawyer, Paolo Annino, supervising attorney at the Public Interest Law Center in Tallahassee, Fla., said at the panel discussion that he agreed to participate in the documentary because of the way law can follow culture.
In the wake of Supreme Court decisions that have come down against juvenile life without parole sentences, states’ reactions have been mixed, Annino said. Some have moved to abolish the practice, while others have looked for ways to sidestep the rulings.
The mixed reaction is why public attitudes should matter to advocates, because they can help drive legislative changes, Annino said.
[For more of this story, written by Sarah Barr, go to http://jjie.org/youth-advocate...ion-on-jlwop/120956/]
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