Juvenile Lifers: From an Adolescence Denied Through an Incarcerated Adulthood

In 1982, Simon I. Singer visited Masten Park, a secure facility for juveniles in Buffalo, NY that had been opened because of the state’s newly enacted “waiver law”, which required 13-15 year olds charged with murder to be prosecuted in criminal court and, if convicted, to face a maximum adult sentence of life. Masten Park was Singer’s starting point for exploring what happens when the justice system denies and misrecognizes the adolescence of juveniles sentenced to life in prison. Drawing on more than forty years of research, including prison visits, correspondence, court documents, and parole transcripts, Juvenile Lifers takes a deep look into incarcerated youths’ pre- and post-prison lives. At the heart of the book is the author's decades-long relationship with David O. and five other juvenile lifers whose stories are told in depth.

Their journeys through the adult criminal justice system reveal how adolescence can be misrecognized at every stage, from interrogation, where teenagers face pressures they are developmentally ill-equipped to navigate, through criminal court and sentencing, to the parole hearings that ultimately determine whether they are allowed to return to society and complete their road to adulthood.

The book advances an adolescent-recognizing framework, arguing that automatic transfer laws and life sentences deny young people's lesser culpability, developmental dependency, and capacity for change. Yet the evidence offers hope: most of New York's juvenile lifers ultimately succeeded on parole, moving into adulthood without reoffending. Combining narrative, institutional history, and rigorous analysis of parole decision-making, Juvenile Lifers makes a powerful case for recognizing adolescence at every stage of the justice system, regardless of the offense.