SBAN Interns at Swarthmore
In the summer of 2017 UII partnered with the Swarthmore Black Alumni Network (SBAN) to support five student summer internships through the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility. These five students served as the inaugural cohort of Urban Inequality and Incarceration Social Justice Interns.
Thanks to generous contributions from Swarthmore Black Alumni Network members in 2016, three students served as Urban Inequality and Incarceration Legal Interns under the leadership of Professor Keith Reeves ’88. The interns worked with Attorney Stefanie McArdle-Taylor from the Chester Youth Justice Project to prepare mitigation materials for juvenile clients impacted by the 2012 Supreme Court decision, Miller v. Alabama. In addition, the interns were mentored by attorneys Chris Jamison, Scott Lisgar, and Robert Keller from the firm Keller, Lisgar and Williams, LLP. In this regard, the interns attended court proceedings, attended simulated law school classes, and visited the offices of Cravath, Swaine, and Moore, LLP. in New York City. Finally, the students drafted a law review to be submitted in the spring of 2018.
In addition to the legal internships, the Swarthmore Black Alumni Network also supported two student summer internships to address the school-to-prison pipeline. The interns worked under the supervision of Susanne Cianfaro at the Chester Community Charter School to develop a few innovative components of an after school program. Nicknamed the “Sesame Street Project”, the initiative was inspired by Sesame Street’s introduction of a character with an incarcerated parent, and aims to have the greatest impact upon Chester students of the similar circumstance. The interns spent the summer exploring various intervening methods and are working to develop a program to be implemented Summer 2018.
Due to the tremendous success of the inaugural intern class and the continued dedication and generosity of the SBAN community, the SBAN/UII summer internship will welcome its second class of interns in the Summer 2018. These students will continue the work on both the legal and education projects and look forward to further developing the partnerships established last year.
As part of their ten-week experience, the SBAN interns worked closely with Stefanie McArdle, Esq. in preparing the mitigation cases for clients who are impacted by the 2012 Supreme Court decision, Miller v. Alabama. In this decision, the Supreme Court ruled that sentencing a juvenile to life without the possibility of parole is unconstitutional. Furthermore, in a 2016 case, Montgomery v. Louisiana, the Court determined that its previous ruling should be applied retroactively, giving thousands of individuals across the country a chance at the resentencing process. As it happens, Pennsylvania has the most cases of any state in the country.
One of these individuals is a Chester native who has been in prison since 1975 for a deadly robbery he committed when he was just 17 years old. Because of the recent legal changes, this individual was able to bring his case before the court once more. This time, due to a greater appreciation of adolescent development and improved consideration of mitigating circumstances, such as abuse experienced in the home and school and intellectual disabilities paired with lack of school attendance, a Delaware County judge resentenced the client to 30 years to life. Since the individual has already served 42 years, he will be immediately eligible for parole; and the necessary reentry support has been coordinated in Philadelphia. Mrs. McArdle and the Swarthmore students hope that this is just the first of many individuals to be helped through this new but lasting partnership between SBAN interns and the legal community.