SEND A LETTER TO SUPPORT SB 260!

Senate Bill 9 passed because every step of the way many people wrote letters telling their representatives how important it is make our laws fair for youth. Let’s pass Senate Bill 260, too.

Letters REALLY DO make a difference. Let your Assembly Member and Senator know that you want them to vote YES when SB 260 comes before them.

Click here for an easy-to-use sample letter. Click here to find out who represents you. It’s best to write to both your Senator and your Assembly Member.  The attached letter explains how.

Send your letter as soon as possible. Then, get your friends and family  to write letters, too.

Click here to see how your representatives voted on SB 9.

GET YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY TO WRITE LETTERS!

Tell others about California’s policy of sentencing young people as adults. Do you belong to a church, temple, mosque, civic group, community organization, or club? Ask if you can speak, hand out flyers, or set up a table with letters people can sign. Tell them about this website, or better, hand them a letter they can sign right then. There are materials below you can use. The “sample letters sets” below have letters that can be printed out and signed. Ask people to sign TWO letters, one for their Senator and one for their Assembly Member. Collect the letters and send them to ecalvin@hrw.org or fax 1-310-477-4622 and we will figure out who represents them and send the letters.

Sample letters set for Senators En español: cartas senadores

Sample letters set for Assembly Members

SB 260 fact sheet

Two men who got a second chance

 

KEEP INFORMED!  LET US KNOW THINGS YOU CAN DO TO HELP AND WE’LL SUPPORT YOU. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER.  KEEP CHECKING BACK HERE!

There’s so much more to be done to make justice and hope for youth a reality in California. This is a movement of youth, people of faith, family members of youth sentenced to extreme sentences, murder victim family members, human rights advocates (and some of us are all of those things) and many others. We are people who want California to treat its youth fairly and recognize that every young person has tremendous potential. We believe the justice system can be changed to hold youth accountable, give them hope, and real opportunities for growth, and also provide healing and justice for victims. There’s a place for you! We welcome everyone.

We’re just beginning work on SB 260. Be a part of the this effort! Things change quickly– at one point we may need letters to a particular committee, and at another we might need everyone to contact their specific representative. Let us know your ideas about things to do and we will do what we can to support you. For example, if you would like to take a flyer about the bill and sample letters of support to your church, temple, mosque, social club, civic group (any where!)  let us know and we can get you all the materials you need. If you would like a speaker to come to your group, or if you would like help in knowing how to meet with your representative, just let us know.

Stay in contact with Fair Sentencing for Youth.  Make sure you’ve joined our list–use the form here to the right.

Keep checking in on this website! Join us on twitter: www.twitter.com/fairsentencing. Don’t have regular access to a computer? You can sign up on any cell phone (it doesn’t have to be a “smart” phone) and get a text message from us. Just send a text from your cell phone to 40404 with the message: follow fairsentencing.

Learn other things you can do by joining CARES, a group of family members, friends, and supporters of youth who have been sentenced to LWOP and other extreme sentences. Go to this website www.caresforyouth.org Or, send your contact information to ecalvin@hrw.org, with a subject line of “Joining CARES.”