Lessons of Repentance and Forgiveness:
What we learned from the resentencing of juveniles who had been illegally sentenced to mandatory life without parole.
Oscar Bregman Memorial Program with Brad Bridge and John Pace
Saturday, October 12 at 2:45 PM in the Charry Sanctuary
Livestream link: Click here.
It had long been the law in Pennsylvania that adults or juveniles convicted of an intentional murder or a felony murder must be given a mandatory sentence of life without parole. In 2016 the United States Supreme Court found that such mandatory sentences could not constitutionally be given to juveniles because their brains were not fully developed. As a result of court rulings, over 500 Pennsylvania juveniles who had been given mandatory life sentences became eligible for resentencing and release. Many of them had been incarcerated for 20, 40 or even 60 years and were now given the hope of re-entering society. We will discuss what we can learn about forgiveness and repentance by examining the resentencing process, which occurred with the participation of the victims’ families.
From 1979 to 1983 Brad Bridge worked in the Chicago Office of the State Appellate Defender representing indigent defendants challenging their convictions in state and federal courts. From 1983 to the present Brad worked at the Defender Association of Philadelphia, representing clients in federal and state courts, trial and appellate courts, jury and non-jury trials, homicide and non-homicide cases. While retired, he still is handling cases with the Homicide and Appeals units. For nearly three decades Brad has been involved in reopening convictions due to police corruption. To date he has had over 2,200 convictions voided due to police corruption — and there are another 6,000 petitions pending to reopen convictions based on allegations of police corruption. In 2016 the United States Supreme Court in Montgomery v. Louisiana held that sentencing juveniles to mandatory life imprisonment was unconstitutional. This voided 500 juvenile life without parole sentences in Pennsylvania — 300 in Philadelphia alone. Brad co-chaired the Defender Association’s Juvenile Lifer Resentencing Project and represented 18 juveniles at their resentencing hearings.
John Pace, Senior Reentry Coordinator
John coordinates efforts to garner the necessary resources to support former Juvenile Lifers and youth client-partners returning to the community from prison, jail, or placement. As a former Juvenile Lifer himself–John spent 31 years in prison, beginning at age 17–he was actively involved in numerous initiatives while incarcerated to help support his personal transition back to the community and that of other Juvenile Lifers. John is a certified paralegal and a former member of the Para-Professional Law Clinic (PPLC) at Graterford prison. He was on the management team of the Prison Literacy Project (PLP); served as the Chairman of the Juvenile Lifers Committee in the Lifers organization at Graterford, and as a Think Tank member of The Temple Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program at Graterford, where he participated in the training over 600 instructors throughout the world in the Inside-Out pedagogy. In 2014, he became a certified instructor in the Inside-Out Pedagogy, which teaches the art of facilitating dialogue. While incarcerated, John earned his Associates Degree and Bachelor’s Degree from Villanova University, with minors in sociology and criminal justice. John Pace was named the first-ever recipient of the Raymond Pace Alexander Reentry Star of the Year Award in June 2018 in recognition of his tremendous accomplishments since returning home from prison.