Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth

Founded in 2009, the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (CFSY) works to reform the juvenile justice system with a focus on banning juvenile life without parole (JLWOP) and other extreme sentences for young people. The campaign approaches reform through coalition-building, public education, advocacy, and litigation. CFSY builds on the experience and expertise of those directly impacted by the juvenile justice system.

With support from the Fund, CFSY worked to provide Incarcerated Children’s Advocacy Network (ICAN) members and other directly impacted populations to take an even greater leadership role in the movement. Additionally, CFSY used the new Community Prosperity Initiative to deepen the cross-collaboration among diverse private-sector partners and people who were formerly incarcerated. It worked with national partners to further establish movement-wide narratives to combat dehumanizing and racist rhetoric and policies and continues to support legislation ending extreme sentences.

With its current Art for Justice support, CFSY will develop a multi-year, multi-state strategy to abolish life-in-prison sentences for children, and increase their lobbying efforts, public narrative campaigns and strategic prosecutor engagement to undo the harshest penalties imposed on children in the U.S.