As previously reported, Executive Director Dawn Blagrove was invited to give oral argument in a Juvenile Life-without-Parole case at the North Carolina Supreme Court last month, after Emancipate NC submitted an amicus brief on behalf of Darrell Tristan Anderson, a North Carolina Black man convicted of murder at the age of 17.
The argument was covered by the Public News Service:
“There’s no way to claim equity or fairness in a process when the results so disproportionately deny life and liberty to black children,” Blagrove asserted. “The United States is, shamefully, one of only four countries in the entire world that still imposes L-WOP for juveniles.”
Since the 1990s, North Carolina has sentenced 94 minors to life without the possibility of parole. Blagrove argued the color of a child’s skin should not be predictive of whether they receive the harshest punishment for a crime.
“In doing so, North Carolina has sent a message that these children’s lives have no meaningful value and that they can be disposed of,” Blagrove contended.