Believing that there are fundamental, emotional and intellectual differences between children and adults, Advocates for Abandoned Adolescents' mission is to end the practice of trying, sentencing and incarcerating youth under 18 in the adult criminal justice system.Our mission is to place a national spotlight upon the nations approach to juvenile justice, and to place faces and stories to the children that were waived, and thereby, held to an adult standard in the courtroom and then sent to adult prisons. Our mission is to end the practice of sentencing children to life without the possibility of parole, and to reduce the harm caused to children in adult prisons by supporting legislation that will make those who were sentenced as children eligible to have their sentences reviewed at some point during their incarceration.