Life imprisonment for children & teens

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-20-2005
Life imprisonment for children & teens
7
Wed, 10-17-2007 - 4:00pm

The U.S. is the only country in the world that convicts young adolescents as adults and sentences them to life in prison. According to a new report, there are 73 Americans serving such sentences for crimes they committed at 13 or 14. Do you think the government should abolish life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for children and young teenagers?


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/17/us/17teenage.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin


The iVillage edit team is looking to hear your thoughts on this topic for a possible upcoming feature! Your answers may be quoted in future article about this issue.





Edited 10/17/2007 4:43 pm ET by cmgina

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Avatar for weberdns0
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-25-2000
Thu, 10-18-2007 - 12:05pm
Usually the punishment is for a murder charge.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-17-2005
Thu, 10-18-2007 - 2:10pm
My feelings are that yes, we should do away with it.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-06-2003
Thu, 10-18-2007 - 5:10pm

No.


Sallie

Avatar for bookwormmom
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-22-2003
Thu, 10-18-2007 - 6:09pm

I think anyone who commits murder should be put in prison. It's not like they just put anyone in prison for life without parole. It has to be for something pretty bad. And if someone commits a murder that is that awful, I don't care if it is a teen or an adult, they need to be in prison. They make a choice and they serve the sentance.


As far as dealing with the parents etc. Yes, something needs to be done about that, and that is where our laws really need some reform. Abuse, especially sexual abuse doesn't carry a heavy enough sentance in my opinion. OTOH, I don't believe someone should get off because they were abused as a child, there are plenty of us living normal lives and not committing crimes that were abused, molested or raped as children. Our society needs to prosecute the offenders and the victims need to see that they need to get help and not go down the wrong path and then blame it on their past.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-21-2007
Fri, 10-19-2007 - 4:26am

A huge percentage of those kids got life for crimes where no one was killed! One of those kids hitched a ride in a car where an adult was being kidnapped by another adult with no bodily damage to anyone. The problem with this system is that the decision as to where the kid is to be tried rests with the prosecutor and not the judge and with mandatory sentencing laws the judges then have no discretion to tailor the sentence to the circumstances of the case.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 12-14-2003
Fri, 10-19-2007 - 7:34am
No, I do not think life imprisonment should be abolished for children and teens. The case that was presented in the artilce referenced seems like a fairly good instance of justice served. However, perhaps the reform that is called for would be the ability to sentence children and adolescents to life imprisonment within the juvenile system rather than having to try them as adults. If we had the ability to do this, judges might have more discretion in imposing sentencing on these offenders rather than being bound by mandatory sentencing laws. In cases where discretion is called for, such as accessory to murder or where there are mitigating circumstances, it would seem prudent to allow our judicial system to utilize discretion with regards to the sentencing of children and teens. When they are tried as adults, for the purpose of securing harsher sentences, then the ability to tailor the sentence to the crime is sometimes lost. In a case where a 13-year-old has murdered 4 people in cold blood, it seems life in prison is not inappropriate. But if mandatory sentencing results in a teenager who was merely an accessory to a crime spending a life in prison, then it may be time to consider giving the juvenile courts the ability to themselves impose life imprisonment, thereby avoiding the need to charge these juveniles as adults in the first place. Mandatory sentencing is fine for adults, but tailoring the punishment to fit the crime seems reasonable when dealing with juveniles.
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-19-2003
Fri, 10-19-2007 - 1:55pm

In contrast with the US, "life" imprisonment in Canada is a maximum of 25 years.