When the federal Supreme Court in June declared mandatory life-without-parole sentences unconstitutional for juveniles, experts expected Pennsylvania's more than 500 juvenile lifers to flood the courts with requests to reconsider their sentences.
The floodgates will close Friday, the deadline under the state's Post-Conviction Relief Act, which gives inmates 60 days from the time of such rulings to file appeals.
Advocates believe most of the state's juvenile lifers have filed for reconsideration. Pennsylvania has more juvenile lifers than any other state in the country.
"We have done everything we could do to educate, inform and mobilize this community," said attorney Marsha Levick, deputy director of the Juvenile Law Center.
