After the U.S. Supreme Court told states that juveniles who had been given mandatory life without parole sentences should get the chance to argue for their release, national writers Sharon Cohen and Adam Geller wanted to know how judges, prosecutors, lawmakers and parole boards were dealing with the inmates.
Aided by reporters in all 50 states, their exhaustive investigation showed for the first time that the high court’s mandate in 2016 to give inmates a chance at freedom is being applied inconsistently, varying from state to state, even county to county, “in a pattern that can make justice seem arbitrary.”
Some states resentenced and released dozens. Geller and Cohen also found that other states delayed reviewing cases, or “skirted the ruling on seeming technicalities or fought to keep the vast majority of their affected inmates locked up for life.”
The resulting three-day series featured deeply reported text stories, an expansive photo report of inmates from across the country, a 16-minute audio extra, a video animation on teen brain development, a video story, and a searchable trove of state-by-state details – all hosted in a dynamic hub on APNews.com.
Cohen and Geller’s work wins this week’s Beat of the Week prize.
For decades, many states passed laws that punished juveniles like adults, sentencing them to spend the rest of their lives in prison for homicide. Then, five years ago, the Supreme Court banned such mandatory sentences and, last year, went further by instructing states to give inmates a chance to show they were rehabilitated.
With little state-level data available, Cohen and Geller scoured court and prison records and reviewed old trial transcripts. Reporters in all 50 states helped fill in the gaps. The result: a state-by-state inventory of juvenile lifers.
Very soon into their reporting, Cohen and Geller hit roadblocks.
Advocacy groups were unable to provide a state-by-state breakdown of the number of lifers and often declined to identify any lifers by name, fearing they would jeopardize their chances at resentencing and release. As Cohen and Geller began scouring court and prison records and reviewing decades-old trial transcripts, project editors Pauline Arrillaga and Chris Sullivan enlisted reporters in all 50 states to help fill in the gaps.
The result was a one-of-a-kind inventory of the numbers of juvenile lifers in each state, recent legislative action and a glimpse at whether states were taking steps to address these cases – or pushing back. Producer Maureen Linke turned it into a searchable interactive that was featured on the APNews.com hub.
Juliet Linderman joined the team to produce a piece examining how the ruling has affected far more than those inmates serving mandatory sentences, expanding on early reporting she’d done for her state separate.
The series also stood out for its digital and visual journalism.
Working closely with Cohen and Geller, photo editor Patrick Sison gathered up before-and-after photos of the inmates, juxtaposing youthful mugshots with ones from more recent years that helped show how the one-time juvenile offenders have aged in prison. They were coupled with striking photos of former juvenile offenders by Matt Rourke in Philadelphia and Paul Sancya and Carlos Osorio in Detroit.
England’s Lucy Bronze lies on the pitch in dejection at the end of the Women’s World Cup semifinal soccer match against the United States at the Stade de Lyon outside Lyon, France, July 2, 2019.
AP Photo / Laurent Cipriani
Netherlands’ Anouk Dekker, left, walks past United States' players embracing Rose Lavelle, right, after Lavelle scored her team’s second goal during the Women’s World Cup final match at the Stade de Lyon outside Lyon, France, July 7, 2019. The U.S. won 2-0.
AP Photo / Alessandra Tarantino
In this image made from video, Henry Carpenter Warren Jr. addresses the court during a resentencing hearing for his son's killer, Bobby Hines, seated left, at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit, March 16, 2017. Warren said Hines "was punished excessively. ... He can go home today."
AP Photo from video / Carlos Osorio
Valencia Warren Gibbs standing next to her father, Henry Carpenter Warren Jr., as she speaks to reporters at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit, March 16, 2017. Gibbs and her family have forgiven Bobby Hines for the 1989 murder of her brother, James Warren. "He was 15 years old," she said during Hines' resentencing hearing. "I forgave him the day that it happened. ... I want him to be out. I want him to give himself a chance that he didn't give himself ... that day."
AP Photo / Carlos Osorio
Bobby Hines is shown in an undated school identification card. When he was 15, just out of eighth grade, he was in court answering for his role in the murder of a man over a friend's drug debt. He did not fire the deadly shot, but when he and two others confronted 21-year-old James Warren, Hines said something like, "Let him have it," words that sealed his conviction and punishment: mandatory life with no chance for parole. At 43, he returned for a resentencing hearing and is set to be paroled in September 2017.
American Civil Liberties Union via AP
Bobby Hines holds a certificate for his 2014 graduation from the 40 Days of Peace Training Program graduation at the F.C. Brooks and West Shoreline Correctional Facilities in Muskegon Heights, Mich. At left is Warden Mary Berghuis and at right is Kit Cummings, founder of The Power of Peace Project. In his first decade in prison, Hines racked up about a dozen misconduct tickets, many for fighting, but he eventually settled down. He earned his GED certificate, enrolled in self-improvement programs and developed a reputation as a solid worker.
Michigan Department of Corrections via AP
Ahmad Rashad Williams is shown at an earlier age and in April 2014. Williams' mother, a crack addict, died when he was 10. His grandmother, who raised him in Grand Rapids, Mich., died soon after. By the time Williams shot and killed Derek Pimpleton in a dispute over marijuana, he was smoking it every day and regularly skipping school. Both boys were 15.
Michigan Department of Corrections via AP
Jennifer M. Pruitt is shown in 1993 and in July 2013. In 1993 she targeted her 75-year-old neighbor for robbery and then stood by as an accomplice stabbed Elmer Heichel to death. When Pruitt got life without parole at the age of 17, the law provided only one other choice for punishment –sentencing Pruitt as a juvenile, which meant just three years of court supervision.
Michigan Department Of Corrections via AP
Judge Fred Mester on the bench in Waterford, Mich., in 2010. In 2016, the former judge, who imposed Jennifer Pruitt's life-without-parole sentence in 1993, visited her in prison, saying he found "a new person." He wrote letters to the prosecutor and a new judge, praising Pruitt for pursuing an education, tutoring others and counseling fellow inmates.
Charles V. Tines / Detroit News via AP
Destroyed homes line a street Tuesday, March 3, 2020, near Lebanon, Tenn., after tornadoes ripped across Tennessee overnight.
AP Photo / Mark Humphrey
Kempis Songster, shown in an undated photo, was a 15-year-old runaway when he joined another teen in the 1987 Philadelphia drug house stabbing of 17-year-old Anjo Pryce, a fellow gang member. At trial, Songster turned down a prosecutor's offer that would have likely seen him do eight to 10 years in prison. "I think they were the youngest guys I ever prosecuted for murder. You walk in there and see that they're children and you say, 'Wait a minute,'" says Jack McMahon, who offered the long-ago plea deal. Now a defense attorney, McMahon had offered to testify for him.
Pennsylvania Department of Corrections via AP
Netherlands’ player Dominique Bloodworth, kneeling, celebrates with goalkeeper Sari Van Veenendaal after winning their Women’s World Cup semifinal soccer match against Sweden at the Stade de Lyon outside Lyon, France, July 3, 2019.
AP Photo / Laurent Cipriani
Evan Miller, right, is escorted to the Lawrence County Courthouse in Moulton, Ala., Oct. 20, 2006. Miller and another teen beat Cole Cannon with a baseball bat before setting fire to Cannon's trailer with him inside. At a resentencing hearing in March 2017, Miller's lawyers cited his childhood of physical abuse and neglect and argued that at 14, his brain wasn't fully developed. The prosecution said his actions were those of an adult who acted mercilessly.
The Decatur Daily via AP
Candy Cheatham, daughter of murder victim Cole Cannon, holds a photo of him in Decatur, Ala., July 18, 2017. At a March 2017 resentencing hearing, Evan Miller apologized to Cannon's family, but the victim's daughter, Cheatham, rejected that as insincere "empty words." She testified of nightmares and despair. "To bring this up and make the victims' families relive this, that's being cruel and unusual," she says.
AP Photo / Butch Dill
Video journalist Mike Householder in Detroit produced a video piece that included an emotional courtroom hearing for a juvenile offender and interviews in Pennsylvania with the granddaughters of man killed by a juvenile lifer and a doctor who’s an expert on the teen brain. He also included an interview gathered by video journalist Allen Breed in North Carolina that introduced viewers to an inmate still hoping to make a case for release.
From early on, Arrillaga enlisted digital storytelling editor Raghu Vadarevu to help identify opportunities that could add depth to the project.
Working with Cohen, Geller and science writer Malcolm Ritter, Vadarevu collaborated with animators Peter Hamlin, Marshall Ritzel and Darrell Allen to pull together an animation to explain the development of the teenage brain and the impact on decision-making – based on research that played a role in the Supreme Court’s decisions.
Vadarevu and West digital producer Samantha Shotzbarger worked with Geller to combine his narrative storytelling skills with a new format: audio. The result was a 16-minute audio extra focusing on Earl Rice Jr. who had been recently released, Rice's acceptance of responsibility for the death of a woman whose purse he stole and his adjustment to life on the outside. Shotzbarger also made shorter audio clips that were embedded into the text on the hub; a customer also featured them on its website.
Vadarevu, Shotzbarger and Nerve Center producer Trenton Daniel for the first time pulled together a promo hub on APNews.com, shared with readers before the package launch via tweets. It featured an “About the Series” description, “Coming Tuesday” and “Coming Wednesday” cards to spotlight upcoming stories, and bios of the reporting team of Cohen, Geller and Linderman.
"This is clearly among the best journalism AP has done this year." – Managing Editor Brian Carovillano
“Great reporting that breaks news, strong writing, wonderful photos and video, and an immersive presentation that provides by far the best hub experience of the AP News era,” Managing Editor Brian Carovillano said. “This is clearly among the best journalism AP has done this year, and it stands out as something really distinctive and special in this summer of White House chaos.”
Director of Global Enterprise Marjorie Miller called the project “an important public service.”
The series won widespread attention, garnering front-page play in dozens of newspapers. Reporters nationwide also saw front-page play of their sidebars in many of the biggest papers in their states. Average engaged time on APNews ranged from 1.30 on the mainbar to over two minutes on the second-day piece.
The package was retweeted by The Marshall Project and ProPublica, and received coverage by NPR stations across the nation. Geller was interviewed on “All Things Considered.” PRI’s "The Takeaway” hosted a two-day report on the series, featuring both Cohen and Geller as well as recently released offender Earl Rice.
Advocacy groups are using the series to call for more Supreme Court action to prevent what some call “geographic justice.”
For shining a light on a justice system that’s both slow and inconsistent in giving one-time juvenile offenders a chance to make a case for their release, Cohen and Geller win this week’s Beat of the Week $500 prize.