NATURAL LIFE

of EVEN Tirtza

UNITED STATES, 2013, 01:17:00

Production : EVEN Tirtza
Genre : Documentary, Creative documentary
Keyword : Justice, Testimony, Society, Youth

Summary :
Natural Life, produced in conjunction with the legal efforts of The Law Offices of Deborah LaBelle (LODL), is a two fold, 77 minutes long, experimental documentary comprised of a single channel video and a gallery installation.

The piece challenges inequities in the juvenile justice system by depicting, through documentation and reenactment, the stories of five individuals who were incarcerated for Life Without Parole (Natural Life) for crimes they committed as youth. The youthful status and/or lesser culpability of these youths, their background and the circumstances leading to their crime, as well as their potential for rehabilitation, were not taken into account at any point in the charging and sentencing process. The five will never be evaluated for change, difference or growth. They will remain in prison till they die.

There are over 2500 inmates who are serving a life without parole sentence for a crime they committed as juveniles. The U.S. is the only country in the world that allows Life Without Parole (LWOP) sentencing for youth.

Focusing on the extreme case of Michigan’s legal system, the project aims to portray the ripple effect that the juvenile justice system’s imbalance has had on the lives not only of the incarcerated youth and the victims of their crime, but on their family members, on law enforcement and legal officials and on the community at large.

to print