We committed awful crimes as NC teens. Clemency saved us. Please, grant it to others. | Opinion
We have been free — out of prison — for two years. If you had asked us five years ago if we would be where we are now, we would have said no.
Both of us were convicted as juveniles (15 and 16 years old) in unrelated murder cases and spent a collective 56 years behind bars. But we never stopped trying to show that we were more than our worst acts and that we didn’t deserve to spend another half century incarcerated.
Today, thanks to Gov. Roy Cooper’s Juvenile Sentence Review Board (JSRB), we have been given a second chance. During this Second Chance Month, we urge the governor to extend that grace to more people, for there are hundreds just like us.
As children, we made horrible mistakes. We were both tried and sentenced as adults and did not think we would ever see freedom again. Still, we tried to make the best of our situation. As we grew into adults while incarcerated, we committed ourselves to rehabilitation. We signed up for as many programs and classes as we could and remained consistently employed in prison. We worked to educate ourselves, earning seven degrees and certificates between us while also writing books and academic papers.
Just over two years ago, the governor commuted our sentences, and we were released from prison shortly after. Our second chance has given us a new lease on life. We both immediately got jobs so we could be independent and provide for ourselves, and we worked hard to reintegrate into our communities.
For me, April, it marked the first chance I really had to be a mother. I entered prison, pregnant, at age 15. Now 48, I’ve finally had the chance to have a hands-on relationship with my son.
Our second chance has also afforded us the opportunity to give back. Both of us work to help people who are formerly or still incarcerated. Anthony, now 44, started a program called “Grace it Up” to feed incarcerated people and let them know they’re not forgotten.
As much as we appreciate our second chance, we know there are so many people who are just as worthy and deserving of their own second chance.
According to data from the Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law, there were 325 people eligible for JSRB review after serving at least 15 years in prison. So far, 117 of those people have submitted petitions to the Juvenile Sentence Review Board, and more than 70 of them are still waiting for a decision. Only six have had their petitions approved.
Gov. Cooper’s executive order establishing the reviews expires Dec. 31, 2024. At that point, those 70 people — people just as, if not even more deserving as us — will have lost this unique opportunity for their second chance. We know first-hand how devastating it can be to have hope for a chance and have that hope dashed.
When the governor commuted our sentences, he said “North Carolina law continues to change to recognize that science is even more clear about immature brain development and decision making in younger people. As people become adults, they can change, turn their lives around, and engage as productive members of society.”
Cooper and the review board saw us as full people, not just the children who’d made terrible mistakes.
During this Second Chance Month, and before Cooper’s executive order expires in December, we urge him to see the more than 70 people who have petitioned for clemency as full people, just like us — to see their genuine hearts and give them a second chance too. They are waiting to prove themselves just like we did.
April Barber Scales and Anthony Willis were granted clemency two years ago through Gov. Roy Cooper’s Juvenile Sentence Review Board. Scales lives in Carrboro. Willis lives in Charlotte.
