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Juvenile life sentences
Punishment for juvenile crime
Punishment for juvenile crime
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In 2012 the Supreme Court ruled that juveniles who commit murder could not be sentenced to life in prison because it violated Amendment number eight which states that Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. I agree with what the Supreme Court was ruling because adolescents who commit crimes should not have to serve the rest of their lives in prison and there life was just beginning. It is understandable to punish them, but not give them a life sentence.
There has been studies that have shown that during the teenage stage kids lose a lot of brain tissue, which made them make decisions they would not normally make. Also there is over 1,300 kids that are sentenced to life in prison as an adult. Amendment number eight states that “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted”. Sentencing adolescents as an adult goes against our 8th Amendment. Teens are being tried as an adult and sentenced to life in prison for murder at ridiculous rates in the US. This actually disproves juvenile advocates on the underdeveloped brain argument.
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Alonza Thomas has been just a teen who ran away from home because his mother was disappointed in him.
He went to these strangers that let him live with them. They fed him and let him stay there for a long period of time. Finally Alonza decided he wanted to go back home, but the stranger would not let him leave. He said “you think you can just live in my house, eat my food and just going to leave without having to pay? Nothing in this world is free”. The guy convinced Alonza to go and rob a local gas station. As he went to the gas station he threatened the store clerk and he tried running but the other employees held him down at gunpoint until the police came. He was charged as an adult and sentenced 13 years in adult prison at the age
15. Colt Lundy was 15 when he was convicted as an adult for a conspiracy of killing his stepfather. He was sentenced 30 years in prison. Lundy and Geingerich both fired two shots each at Colts Stepfather. He planned to kill his stepfather for a while, he plotted at the playground and told his friends he was going to go through with it. Lundy then went home to get a revolver and a semi-automatic handgun. Both kids waited until Lundy’s stepfather came home then they both fired two shots. After they packed food, clothes, ammunition, and firearms and headed to Arizona. Juveniles do not deserve life in prison and should not be tried as an adult because they are minors and categorized as a minor and they are not a legal adult till the age 18. They also lose brain tissue during the teenage stage, which causes them to make decisions they do not normally make. It also goes against Amendment number eight. Therefore, adolescents should not be tried as an adult.
In my opinion, I actually agree with the court decision because yes although he did committed a crime, to be sentenced for life at young age is pretty harsh. I do agree that he should pay for his consequences but not to that extreme. They should honestly come up with a plan that suits his crime. Plus he has the right of the 8th Amendment, to not condone a cruel punishment if it does not suit the crime in which he committed.
In the article On Punishment and Teen Killers by Jenkins, sadly brings to our attention that kids are sometimes responsible for unimaginable crimes, in 1990 in a suburban Chicago neighborhood a teenager murdered a women, her husband, and her unborn child, as she begged for the life of her unborn child he shot her and later reported to a close friend that it was a “thrill kill”, that he just simply wanted to see what it felt like to shoot someone. A major recent issue being debated is whether or not we have the right to sentence Juveniles who commit heinous crimes to life in adult penitentiaries without parole. I strongly believe and agree with the law that states adolescents who commit these heinous crimes should be tried as adults and sentenced as adults, however I don’t believe they should be sentenced to life without parole. I chose this position because I believe that these young adults in no way should be excused for their actions and need to face the severe consequences of their actions. Although on the other hand I believe change is possible and that prison could be rehabilitating and that parole should be offered.
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
Even though juveniles brains’ aren't developed at the age they committed the crime, they should be able to differentiate between what is right and what is wrong. However, four justices strongly agree, mandatory sentences reflected the will of America society that heinous crimes committed by juveniles should always be punished. The majority of Supreme Court justices who argued to abolish mandatory life in prison for juveniles. Researchers around the world agree with this statement because juveniles don't have a fully developed brain or have rough homes. Many juveniles have don't first degree misers and second degree murders. I stand against abolishing mandatory life in prison. In my opinion Juveniles, depending on the the crime should be sentenced
One of the quotes from Alonza that really made be think was when he said “I’m learning how to do things at 28, that I should have learned at 15.” The man who defended Alonza said that he believed that he believed that Alonza had potentially suffered permanent harm from being locked up on the California prison system. The younger the individual is that committed the crime, the greater chance that there is for the person to be successfully rehabilitated. Alonza spoke in great detail about the conditions that were present inside of the prisons, and how they had affected him after he was released from prison, once referencing that he was once concerned that his mother was using a knife without permission (Stickup Kid 2014). Being in that prison from such a young age had a dramatic effect on the development of that young man. Additionally one more latent function that I saw from the video was the amount of prescription drugs that the state had placed Alonza on in order to manage all of his new psychiatric issues. The number one problem that I see with that, is that the prison system seemed to have given Alonza all of those issues, since he wasn 't suffering from them before he went to prison. Additionally this created a problem of who is paying for him to be on those prescription drugs because that is not a cheap undertaking, and Alonza would have a hard time paying for all of those drugs himself with his lack of job skills. Ultimately you would have to believe that the State of California is paying for them which is a burden on the day to day tax
Throughout and for many years there has been a lot of controversy on how to trial someone who has committed a crime under the age of 18. A lie will be a lie even if it 's serious or innocent and that 's why just like a crime will always be a crime, no matter what the situation is. The age of a person who has committed murder shouldn 't be an issue or a complication. Many advocate that the juvenile is just a child, but despised that I believe that is no justification or defense for anyone who does a crime. America and the nation need to apprehend that juveniles that are being conducted to life in prison is not just for one small incident or crime, but for several severe crimes according to Jennifer Jenkins, Juvenile Justice Information
When it comes to minors, we try to keep a balance between our logistic and moral views on the issue of their imprisonment. Usually, we end up thinking morally, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Children raised in harsh conditions or without adequate parenting could stay bad forever, or grow up to become a great person. A huge slip up shouldn’t take their life. We could think that the children could stay bad forever and become an even bigger problem later in life, but prison time works well to deter against that. The supreme court was right. It’s completely wrong to sentence a minor to
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.
Dieter, Richard C. "Innocence and the Death Penalty: The Increasing Danger of Executing the Innocent." DPIC. Death Penalty Information Center, 1 July 1997. Web. 12 Dec. 2014. .
First off sentencing juveniles without parole should not be allowed to happen because the juveniles brain has not yet matured enough and they don’t think before they act. In the article “Juveniles don’t deserve life sentences” by Gail Garinger he asserts “young people are biologically different from adults. Brain imagining studies reveal that regions of
Should a teenager who made a critical mistake have to serve a life without parole sentence for one moment’s mistake? Nathaniel Brazil did and he is still in prison today. I agree that the majority of supreme court justices who passed the law making mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles who commit first or second degree murder are unfair and even unconstitutional because they are still children which make them immature in all aspects. Their brains are still not fully developed, and they make rash or quick decisions without thinking about long term consequences due to this. To give a juvenile a whole life sentence without parole for a moment's mistake or decision that was made when they haven't fully developed or learned what
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.
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.
For example, the court has already struck down the death penalty and the life in prison without parole for juveniles or for young offenders convicted of non-homicide. According to the article, “Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life In Prison,” Paul Garinger states that “Brain imaging studies reveal that the regions of the adolescent brain that are responsible for controlling thoughts, actions, and emotions are not fully developed. They can not be held to the same standards when they commit terrible crimes.” If this is true, there is no reason to treat juveniles as adults.
Should juveniles be trial as an adult after committing a heinous crime and sentenced to life? As a teenager, this question if far complicated to answer due that I am a teenager yet in my opinion, I believe that the juvenile should not be sentenced to life. I believe that there 's other way to punish them for their crimes. The last execution was in 2006 in California. On June 2012, the supreme court of justice ruled that juveniles cannot be sentenced to life in prison. On July 2014, in California the death penalty was removed. The 8th amendment banned the use of cruel or punishments. The reason why this rule have been imposed or banned was because many believed that they deserve a second chance. There are many reasons why juveniles commit crimes such as murder.