HARTFORD — More than two dozen Connecticut inmates convicted of serious crimes as juveniles have had the opportunity to plead for parole for the first time.
The Board of Pardons and Paroles held 22 hearings in 2016 and 13 so far in 2017. Seventeen were paroled; 18 denied.
The board had identified 210 former juveniles who qualified for these “juvenile reconsideration hearings.”
A 2015 Connecticut law required a new parole eligibility system for people who committed a crime while under 18, were sentenced to 10-plus years, and were incarcerated on or after Oct. 1, 2015.
It retroactively eliminated life sentences for other offenders of serious crimes as juveniles.
The law was essentially passed to bring Connecticut in line with U.S. Supreme Court rulings, but it’s more expansive than some other states’ responses.
