Aliz Smith
Professor: Dr. Andrea Nichols
IDS 112 475: Sex Trafficking in Global Perspective
January 29, 2017
“The Sixteen Years Old Killer: Cyntoia's Story”
A Sixteen-year-old teenager, Cyntoia Brown is currently serving her life sentence at the Tennessee Prison for first-degree murder, which is related to sexual trafficking and child prostitution. In August of 2004, she shot to death a 43-year-old man Johnny Allen in Nashville, Tennessee. He picked her up at a local Sonic restaurant and took her to his house to perform sexual services based on a mutual agreement. In her case, the facts that lead her to perpetrate a heinous crime were omitted based on the exciting laws, and the consequential punishment necessary for a first-degree murder. She was tried and punished as an adult, not an underage girl who is a victim herself. I don't understand, how can our society send a minor to serve a life sentence for a
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My question is: Does the young Ms. Brown deserve help, …show more content…
Not taking in consideration the full results of the psychological evaluation at The Juvenile Justice system, where Dr. Bernet argued her mental history. Psychologists reason, that adult punishment doesn't apply to a juvenile for a first degree murder in a bad situation like Cyntoia's. The United States Criminal Court finds that, a first degree murder which is a serious crime has it's consequences of a capital punishment for life sentence or the death penalty. The system of rules, including the evidences of the police investigation, has failed to take it in consideration, that Cyntoia Brown was a youth victim of sex trafficking. She was too young, and too afraid of her dangerous “boyfriend.” She had no idea who to turn to, and how to get out of the bad
If a family member was murdered, a family member was murdered, age should not dictate if the punishment for homicide will be more lenient or not. If anyone not just juveniles has the capabilities to take someone's life and does so knowing the repercussions, they should be convicted as an adult. In the case of Jennifer Bishop Jenkins who lost her sister, the husband and their unborn child, is a strong advocate of juveniles being sentenced to life without parole. In her article “Jennifer Bishop Jenkins On Punishment and Teen Killers” she shows the world the other side of the spectrum, how it is to be the victim of a juvenile in a changing society where people are fighting against life sentences for juveniles. As she states in the article “There are no words adequate to describe what this kind of traumatic loss does to a victims family. So few who work on the juvenile offender side can truly understand what the victims of their crimes sometimes go through. Some never
The sentencing of underage criminals has remained a logistical and moral issue in the world for a very long time. The issue is brought to our perspective in the documentary Making a Murderer and the audio podcast Serial. When trying to overcome this issue, we ask ourselves, “When should juveniles receive life sentences?” or “Should young inmates be housed with adults?” or “Was the Supreme Court right to make it illegal to sentence a minor to death?”. There are multiple answers to these questions, and it’s necessary to either take a moral or logical approach to the problem.
I think that it is unfair that a minor could be killed for something when they aren’t even allowed to vote. Those younger than 18 are not allowed to vote or be on juries, or enjoy any of the other responsibilities and privileges of adulthood because the government considers their judgment unformed. So why would you execute them if you think their judgment isn’t up to par? To the government their judgment isn’t up to par, so don’t tell minors that they should know right from wrong when the government believes that they can’t think right yet. A minor should know not to murder someone, but maybe their mind just hasn’t quite developed that sense of right or wrong yet.
Heinous crimes are considered brutal and common among adults who commit these crimes, but among children with a young age, it is something that is now being counted for an adult trial and punishable with life sentencing. Although some people agree with this decision being made by judges, It is my foremost belief that juveniles don’t deserve to be given life sentencing without being given a chance at rehabilitation. If this goes on there’s no point in even having a juvenile system if children are not being rehabilitated and just being sent off to prison for the rest of their lives and having no chance getting an education or future. Gail Garinger’s article “ juveniles Don’t deserve Life sentence”, written March 14, 2012 and published by New york Times, mentions that “ Nationwide, 79 adolescents have been sentenced to die in prison-a sentence not imposed on children anywhere else in the world. These children were told that they could never change and that no one cared what became of them. They were denied access to education and rehabilitation programs and left without help or hope”. I myself know what it’s like to be in a situation like that, and i also know that people are capable of changing even children when they are young and still growing.
Supreme Court ruling Graham v. Florida (2010) banned the use of life without parole for juveniles who committed non-homicide crimes, and Roper v. Simmons (2005) abolished the use of the death penalty for juvenile offenders. They both argued that these sentences violated the 8th Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. While these landmark cases made great strides for the rights of minors passing through the criminal justice system, they are just the first steps in creating a juvenile justice system that takes into consideration the vast differences between adolescents and adults. Using sociological (Butler, 2010) and legal (Harvard Law Review, 2010) documents, this essay will explicate why the next such step to be taken is entirely eliminating the use of the life without parole sentence for juveniles, regardless of the nature of the crime being charged.
There are families of loved ones who were brutally murdered by a Juvenile and just want pure justice. When Juveniles are charged for a first degree murder crime, sentencing them to life without parole is a must.
In the film 15 to life: Kenneth’s story in the 2000’s a fifteen year old was charged with four consecutive life sentences without possibility of parole, his name was Kenneth Young. Young was charged with four accounts of armed robbery, and his partner who was twenty-four years old at the time was only charged with one life sentence. His partners name was Jacque Bethea, and he already had a criminal record before being convicted of armed robbery. While, Kenneth had no criminal history before the robberies had happened. According to Paolo Annino who is Kenneth’s lawyer, sometimes juveniles receive harsher punishments than adult in the justice system (Pequeneza, 2014). When the Supreme Court decided that they will no longer give children life sentences for anything less than murder, Kenneth got a chance to be resentenced after spending eleven years in prison (Pequeneza, 2014). Unfortunately, Kenneth wasn’t able to be released until 2030. During Young’s resentencing Kenneth and his lawyer added more information about his home
Age is a factor in why Juveniles should not be sentenced to life in prison. As Paul Thompson states in his article Startling Finds on Teenage Brains from the Sacramento Bee, published on May 25, 2001 “ ...These frontal lobes,which inhibit our violent passions, rash action and regulate our emotions are vastly immature throughout the teenage years.” he also says that “The loss[of brain tissue] was like a wildfire, and you see it in every teenager.”. This loss of brain tissue plays a role in the erratic behavior of teens, they cannot properly assess their emotions and thoughts. During this period of brain tissue loss teens are unpredictable, adults do not know what their teen’s next move will be, teens themselves do not even know what their next move will be. As we grow our brains develop, therefore teen brains are not fully developed, so they cannot be held to the same standards as adults.
Jenkins Jennifer “On Punishment and Teen Killers.” Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, 2 August 2011. 7 May 2014.
Many people say that the systems first priority should be to protect the public from the juvenile criminals that are a danger to others. Once the juveniles enter the system there is however, arguments on what should be done with them. Especially for those deemed too dangerous to be released back to their parents. Some want them locked away for as long as possible without rehabilitation, thinking that it will halt their criminal actions. One way to do this they argue would be to send them into an adult court. This has been a large way to reform the juvenile system, by lowering the age limits. I believe in certain cases this is the best method for unforgiving juveniles convicted of murder, as in the case of Ronald Duncan, who got away with a much lesser sentence due to his age. However another juvenile, Geri Vance, was old enough to be sent into the adult court, which caused him t...
The youngest child to ever be convicted as an adult was 11 years old. When these minors are convicted for crimes, they are either sentenced to life without parole, or the death penalty. If they are charged as minors, they are in a correctional facility with other minors until they turn 21, when they are released and their records are wiped clean. If tried as an adult, they will spend the rest of their life in jail with adults, including sex offenders and child molesters; or they will die by electric chair, lethal injection, or a firing squad. There is much debate over whether or not this should be legal in the United States; I am going to tell you the pros and cons, first off, the cons.
During the 1990’s there has been a case of a teen that killed them in Suburban Chicago. After Jennifer’s sister husband died the mother begged for the life of her unborn child as the teen shot her. The teen reported what he had done to his friend , who testified at his trial, about his “thrill kill” that he just wanted to ”see what it would feel like to shoot someone”. In another article called “10 Murders Committed By Minors” by Amanda tells you a crime that a girl commit named Melinda Loveless she was jealous of the friendship forming between 12-year-old Shanda Renee Sharer and her former girlfriend, Amanda Heavrin, so the 16-year-old decided to do something about it. Melinda and her friends went in a car to pick up Sharer from her house to “hang out”. Loveness was in the backseat of car under a blanket with a knife and hold her hostage with the knife to the throat and took her to a garbage dump where they threw Sharer to the ground and started to torture her by taking turns on cutting, stabbing with a dull knife and knocking her unconscious with a metal pipe. They started to laugh on what they to her did and pour gasoline on Sharer while she was still unconscious and burn her alive, so do you still think Juveniles shouldn’t be tried as adults when they commit violent
In the essays “On Punishment and Teen Killers” by Jennifer Jenkins and “Some Juvenile Killers Deserve Adult Justice” by Peter A. Weir, it is demonstrated that juveniles use excuses to minimize their punishment. In the essays “Startling Finds On Teenage Brains” by Paul Thompson and “Juveniles Should Be Tried as Adults in Certain Circumstances” by Mary Onelia Estudillo, it is expressed that juvenile delinquents should be held responsible for their
Being charged with adult sentences is a very harsh punishment considering their age. Andrew Medina was fifteen when he got sentenced to life without parole because of a murder that he possibly did not commit. Officers also alleged that he was part of a gang and sent him to spend the rest of his life in a very strict prison. Trevor Jones also got sentenced to life without parole at the age of seventeen because of reckless manslaughter. Even though it was an accident, the victim’s death occurred while Trevor intended armed robbery and was accused of felony murder and will spend the rest of his life in prison. Jacob Ind was sentenced to life without parole. At the age of fifteen, he killed his mother and stepfather in order to put an end to the all kinds of abuse they were putting him through. The jury did not recognize the fact that it was primarily self-defense and accused him of first degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence. These are the cases of only three kids who got life without parole but there are so many more. These kids miss out on so many things in life because they will spend most of it locked in a cell. One accident or mistake can ruin their lives forever. That is why I think juveniles should be tried in juvenile
Is it fair to give juveniles life sentences? On June 25 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that juveniles who committed murder could not be sentenced to life in prison because it violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the majority, stated that “Mandatory life without parole for a juvenile precludes consideration of his chronological age and its hallmark features- among them, immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to appreciate the risks and consequences. It prevents taking into account the family and home environment that surrounds him and from which he cannot usually extricate himself no matter how brutal or dysfunctional.” Juveniles should not be sentenced to life in prison or adult jail until legal age. Due to the facts that many are still young and aren’t over eighteen.