Fifteen minutes–that was how long one man’s parole hearing lasted in 2023. The man, sentenced to a life term of imprisonment at age 15, is considered one of Tennessee’s “juvenile lifers.” The hearing was the first time he was eligible for release after close to three decades in prison. Conducted via videoconference without an attorney or any witnesses present, the man’s parole was denied after 15 minutes, and he was told he would have to wait three more years to be considered again for release.
In 2022, the Tennessee State Supreme Court found parts of Tennessee’s criminal sentencing statute as applied to youth unconstitutional in State v. Booker. The court’s opinion, authored by retired Supreme Court Justice Sharon Lee, held that Tennessee’s imposition of mandatory life sentences for certain youth was incongruent with a growing understanding of youth brain development.
Based on the court’s ruling, more than 100 young people in Tennessee who had been sentenced to terms of life imprisonment as children became entitled to earlier parole release hearings overnight.
With little blueprint, students at the Advocacy Clinic, part of the University of Tennessee College of Law Legal Clinic, took on the challenge to represent many of these young people and work to ensure that they receive a meaningful opportunity for release lasting longer than 15 minutes.
Advocacy Clinic students step up
Prior to the Booker decision, a “juvenile lifer” in Tennessee could expect to remain incarcerated for at least 51 years. Because of the harsh physical toll of incarceration, there were no known parole releases for these individuals under the old sentencing regime.
With the court’s recognition that children’s unique capacity for change makes them constitutionally different from adults, Tennessee’s “juvenile lifers” may now be eligible for parole after as few as 25 years. In these hearings, individuals can present evidence of their age and other mitigating circumstances present at the time of the offense.
Many of these individuals have spent decades working to better themselves during their incarceration. However, without attorneys, it can be challenging to access records from their youth and receive full consideration of how their age at the time of the offense is relevant to the parole determination,
Prior to the Advocacy Clinic’s involvement, it was particularly difficult for “juvenile lifers” incarcerated in East Tennessee to advocate for themselves in these hearings. According to Advocacy Clinic Professor Kristina Kersey, “While there are a handful of pro bono advocates in Middle Tennessee volunteering to work on juvenile lifer cases, there are far fewer attorneys able to represent individuals incarcerated in remote East Tennessee state prisons.”
Filling the Advocacy Gap
Students in the Advocacy Clinic responded to East Tennessee’s need and made an immediate impact. Katie DeReus, a spring 2024 Advocacy Clinic student, traveled over five hours from Nashville to Mountain City, Tennessee over the summer to advocate for a client during his parole hearing. The client, incarcerated for 26 years after pleading guilty to felony murder at age 15, never expected to have an opportunity for release prior to the Supreme Court’s decision in Booker.
“Working with our parole client affirmed why I came to law school,” DeReus said. “Many juvenile lifers who are similarly situated to our client were denied parole at their first hearing and told they would need to wait three years for their next opportunity for release. For our client, we were able to present a compelling reentry plan while collaborating with Community Defense of East Tennessee and arranged for an independent forensic psychological evaluation. The parole board member responded well to our presentation and re-set our client for review just one year later, giving our client real hope for release after decades in prison.”
Preparing students for practice and creative collaboration
As part of their representation, students conduct in-depth investigations into clients’ social histories, collaborate with forensic psychologists and mitigation experts, submit written filings to the parole board, prepare clients and witnesses, and make oral presentations during hearings.
Through this advocacy and students’ participation in the public hearings, “Advocacy Clinic students work to demand that their clients are afforded a realistic opportunity for release, as constitutionally mandated,” according to Clinical Teaching Fellow Tyler Dougherty.
Meanwhile, as the vast majority of Tennessee’s “juvenile lifers” have not interacted with an attorney in decades, this unique docket also allows students to develop trauma-informed lawyering skills.
“When I met our parole client for the first time, he told me he had not spoken to an attorney in 27 years, nor received one family visit in that time due to the prison’s remote location. I immediately realized the magnitude of our role as his advocates,” said Advocacy Clinic student Ines Gonzalez-Anderson.
Students’ and clients’ experiences are enhanced by collaboration with community partners like the Department of Psychology in the UT College of Arts and Sciences, Community Defense of East Tennessee, Choosing Justice Initiative, and national organizations like the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth.
For students like DeReus, her experience in the Advocacy Clinic introduced work that she wants to continue. DeReus returned to the Advocacy Clinic as an advanced clinic student in the spring to continue to advocate for her parole client. Through this critical work, Advocacy Clinic students endeavor to ensure that some of Tennessee’s “juvenile lifers” have a meaningful opportunity to re-join their communities while providing students with unparalleled training in zealous advocacy, trauma-informed representation, and legal problem-solving.