Juvenile Life Without Parole Sentences Are a Failed Policy That Needs to End
Juvenile Life Without Parole Sentences Are a Failed Policy That Needs to End
It doesn’t have to be this way.
I generally agree, but there are exceptions to every rule. I knew a guy who killed 6 people when he was 16, including his pregnant ex girlfriend. Dude absolutely should never be allowed out.
Sure, but that sounds like the exact sort of case a parole board would deny. The author here isn't saying we should abolish life in prison sentences for juveniles, just that they should all be able to at least apply for parole and try to convince the board that they're no longer a danger to others.
Only takes one board that has a few idiots on it, major prison overcrowding, or him learning to play the jesus card, and he could be out on the street.
I don't think 17 year olds who commit heinous crimes should be excused because they're a year younger. For example, I think those kids who stole a car and purposefully ran over a biker while recording, resulting in his death, should be in jail for life. They lost their chance to participate in society.
Depends on the crime and the context. Sometimes a person’s status as a teenager has no real relevance to the crime, which is why we sometimes try minors as adults. In most of these cases, it’s quite clear the kid knew what they were doing was wrong and what the consequences would be for others.
Also, I don’t think there’s much of a difference between a 17-year-old being sentenced to live in prison vs. a 21-year-old.
I also firmly believe that some crimes are so heinous that the criminal does not deserve a second chance. The only reason I don’t support capital punishment is because human legal systems so often get their judgments wrong, and execution is a punishment you can’t take back. But that doesn’t change my opinion that some people do deserve to die for what they did. Ergo, life without parole seems a good alternative.
eh, you can't take back 50 years of wrongful imprisonment either.
You can't take it back, but you can at least offer them generous compensation for the government fucking up their life and also clean the slate and expunge the record.
You can't do anything to compensate someone for a wrongfully carried out execution. I'd actually support the death sentence if we had a way to be absolutely certain we weren't ever going to carry it out on someone wrongfully convicted, but that's impossible.
I'm always wary of a NIMBY effect in discussions like this, because it's always easy to say we should give someone a chance if you're not going to be living next to them or having loved ones near them. How many of you would be alright with yourself or a loved one living closely near someone like this, as a neighbor or coworker perhaps?
Someone will have to live near them and work near them, after all. If you aren't willing to be that someone, you have no right to put other people in that position. It's why I don't support parole for violent offenses. I would never feel comfortable or safe if I or a loved one were around them. I'm not going to ask someone else to do it instead so I can still feel good about showing mercy.
Is that harsh and selfish of me? Absolutely. But I see nothing wrong with putting society's safety ahead of the freedom of someone who has committed a truly heinous act. Mercy cannot come at the cost of the innocent. If there is any doubt that a person will pose a safety risk, they should not have parole.
I work with some of these kids and, frankly, sometimes life in prison is better than letting them try and fail over and over again.
some people just shouldn't be let back into society. But life in prison is pretty pointless to. We need to bring back penal colonies, just let the inmates run them. And I know, lots of issues with that plan, but maybe they can be figured out.