Should Child Offenders Be Jailed for Life?

JOLIET, Ill., Oct. 23, 2005 — -- At 29, Marshan Allen has spent nearly half his life in prison -- and he expects to spend the rest of his years there for a crime he committed at age 15.

"I didn't even have a [driver's] license because I was too young," he said. "I was trying to get jobs at fast-food restaurants and they were saying I was too young to get a job. … But they … put me in prison for the rest of my life for a decision I made when I was 15 years old."

Allen did not pull the trigger when two teenagers were shot and killed in a drug dispute on the south side of Chicago in March 1992, but rode along with the gunmen. For that, he was tried as an adult, convicted of felony murder, and sentenced to life without parole.

"Even when he found me guilty, I didn't really cry," Allen said. "But when he gave me natural life without parole, I cried like a baby."

Allen's case is not unique. There are nearly 10,000 prisoners nationwide serving life sentences for crimes committed as juveniles. And more than 2,200 of them have no possibility of parole.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International found that 42 states and the federal government allow offenders under 18 to be put away for life with no chance of parole, and 26 mandate it for certain crimes.

Researcher Alison Parker said sentences without the possibility of parole preclude any chance at rehabilitation.

"It is incredibly important that people be held accountable, but they must be held accountable in a way that is proportionate," said Parker, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch.

Tell that to Diane Clements.

In 1991, Clements' 13-year-old son, Zachary, was shot and killed by another teenager. The young shooter was convicted of negligent homicide but served no time in prison.

Clements supports stiff sentences for juvenile offenders, including life without parole.

"It is a deterrent and it tells us that life is valuable, that these young killers should not be allowed to commit murder without serious consequences," she said.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that juvenile offenders are too young and immature to be put to death.

Allen hopes that ruling prompts courts to re-examine life without parole as well.

If ever given a parole hearing, Allen is confident he can prove he's turned his life around, earning his G.E.D., becoming a paralegal and clerking in the prison law library.

But for now, that hearing is still a distant dream.

"I have to keep my dreams," Allen said. "It's all I've got now."

ABC News' Geoff Morrell originally reported this story for "World News Tonight" on Oct. 16, 2005.