15 to Life: Kenneth's Story

Nadine Pequeneza's documentary about Kenneth Young explores the thorny issue of sentencing juvenile criminals as adults. More than a decade ago, 15-year-old Young was tried as an adult and sentenced to four consecutive life sentences for his role in four armed robberies over 30 days across Georgia and Florida, when Young joined a crime spree orchestrated by his crack-addicted mother's drug dealer. But Young's lifetime imprisonment was shaken up after a 2010 Supreme Court ruling that life sentences handed to juveniles for crimes other than murder were unconstitutional, a decision that made Young and 76 other Florida inmates eligible for early release. The effort to determine Young's fate is not by any stretch a fast track to freedom; while some of his robbery victims have no problems with him being released, one delivers a powerfully dramatic cry against having him freed. 15 to Life argues that the brand of juvenile justice aimed at Young was not color-blind, as an overwhelming majority of minors sentenced to life for non-homicide crimes are non-white. It should be noted that this is an abbreviated version of Pequeneza's film—which aired on PBS's POV series—but even in abridged form this is a powerful and disturbing documentary. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)