Life without parole for children? Should laws change concerning this?

Question

What do you think? Should judges be given more options for a case by case basis...

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/10/12/usdom11835.htm

Yes Im inclined to agree, except my thoughts on this were life in prison for haneous crimes and consideration for parole on a case by case basis for others. Thanks for your opinions...

Answer 1

I do think it should be based on a case by case. Children are still developing and rulings should not be blanketed. There should be play room for the dispositions to be handled in. A child has the ability to be more easily turned around than a 35 year old. I think the juvenile justice system needs work, but these recent rulings have been in some cases overkill on an ailing system.

Answer 2

Life without parole is the sentence only for those who committed crimes so heinous they would have gotten the death penalty if they had been over 18 at the time they committed the crime. Maybe some should be eligible for parole, but maybe some should be eligible for the death penalty. I'm not opposed to giving judges more options, but letting all minor offenders go scot-free at the age of 18 isn't the answer, and that's what would happen if they weren't tried as adults for these crimes.

In the 90's, when I was living in St. Louis, two teenagers were found guilty of brutally murdering a girl just to take her car for a joyride. My brother knew the mother of one of the boys, so I heard all of the gory details that probably didn't make it into the newspapers. When I heard about the horrific brutality of this senseless crime, my feeling was that the only alternative to life without parole that should be considered was lethal injection. I'm not a big fan of capital punishment, but psychopaths like these should not be allowed back on the street. By the way, both got life without parole and I thought it was the right decision.

Answer 3

Some crimes that were let go because they were first time offenders went on to commit more serious crimes. I do believe that the judge should go case by case. But some judges do not have that opinion in some case.

Answer 4

THe US Supreme court DID CHANGE THE LAW! They outlawed capital punishment for the little Murders 2 years ago . So now guys like the DC sniper get to skip the lethal injection. What more change do you need? The got the sentence for a crime deserving of the sentence, usually first degree murder.

Answer 5

Judges have, at least in Michigan, many sentencing options. It is their 'judgment' then, that the youths will remain a threat to society if they are released. Children aren't what they used to be. As a society we have forced them to grow up too fast. I have seen stone cold killers at 14 as well as many good kids who break the law and didn't think first. A moral baseline is the difference. If they have one, they are good kids who broke some other law and have not committed murder or any other life offense.

Answer 6

Oh, those poor murdering and raping teens! If they'd only known that beating and raping women and girls was wrong! If only they'd known that shooting another human was wrong! Oh, the poor wittle babies!

Enough with this crap! These are not 'children'! They are young adults. And they knew right from wrong when they committed their heinous crimes. I actually think the best thing for them is to be sent to their next incarnation poste haste. The world has no use for these scum.

Answer 7

There are other options, and it's called Rehabilitation. If a kid goes on a murder spree, they should be punished, but at the same time they need extensive therapy, so that someday they can be released. I would hate to think that a young person can just be locked up and forgotten about.

Answer 8

If the "child" was old enough to take a life, then they are old enough to face the consequences for it. But yes, the judge should have more options - the death penalty should also be an option. Again, the "child" CHOSE to murder, rape, etc. When they CHOSE to do this, they chose whatever comes with it.

Answer 9

I'm totally with Turboweegie on this one. I'm sorry, but if you don't know that raping and murdering is wrong when you're 13 or 15, you won't be able to figure it out later on in life and I don't want you walking the same streets I do.

Answer 10

Lionel Tate out of Florida is a good case study for this issue.

Tate was 12 when he killed 6-year-old Tiffany Eunick, a family friend his mother was baby-sitting, on July 28, 1999. His lawyers
initially claimed the girl died accidentally while the 160-pound boy was imitating professional wrestling moves he saw on
television, but experts said the girl died of skull fractures and a lacerated liver suffered in a beating that lasted one to five
minutes.

He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in 2001. In 2004, an appeals court tossed out the conviction after finding that it was not clear whether Tate understood what was happening to him. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to time served and 10 years' probation.

Florida and dozens of other states have laws permitting children who commit serious crimes to be tried and punished as adults, rather than seeking to rehabilitate them.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International reported in October that at least 2,225 people are serving life sentences without parole in U.S. prisons for crimes they committed under age 18. Six of them were 13 when their crimes were committed; none were 12 as Tate was.

"We don't seem capable of recognizing that our traditional approach to crime and justice often fails with adolescents," said Jeffrey A. Butts, a research fellow at the University of Chicago's
Chapin Hall Center for Children. "Prison by itself doesn't do a lot to change behavior or improve someone's chances of success."

Tate has been living with his mother, Florida Highway Patrol trooper Kathleen Grossett-Tate, since his release. She insisted that he stay with her and has refused repeated requests for an
interview.

Tate was arrested in September 2004 when police found him outside at 2 a.m. carrying a knife with a 4-inch blade. Judge Lazarus added five years' probation and warned he would have "zero
tolerance" for future violations.

Earlier this year, according to court documents, another teen told Broward County detectives that Tate stole one of his mother's guns in March.

In a statement to police in June, Grossett-Tate said she did not report the incident because Tate and the other teen gave conflicting stories. She said her son "knows he's not supposed to go in my room or touch my guns."

On May 12, Grossett-Tate left for a 10-day Army Reserve assignment, leaving Tate home alone. Police later found that her three handguns were taken from a closet in her room. Only two have
been recovered; none has been conclusively linked to the pizza robbery.

On May 23, Tate allegedly called Domino's Pizza from a friend's apartment, ordering four pizzas.

The friend later told police that Tate, armed with a revolver, hid behind the door when delivery man Walter Gallardo arrived with
the order. When Gallardo spotted the gun, he dropped the pizzas and ran, and called police.

Gallardo, 44, positively identified Tate as the assailant and Tate's fingerprints were found on the pizza boxes.

Last I heard he pled guilty to the robbery charge but now wants to withdraw it. He faces 30 years in prison.

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