US leads world in jailing children for life

US leads world in jailing children for life (http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/11/19/1195321693756.html)

Henry Weinstein, Los Angeles
November 20, 2007

THE United States has far more juveniles serving life terms than any other country — 2387. Israel, the only other country that imprisons juveniles for life, according to a new study by the University of San Francisco's Centre for Law & Global Justice, has seven — and has not issued such a sentence since 2004.

In the US, life terms have fallen disproportionately on non-white children, who are 10 times more likely than white children to be given life without parole, the report found.

The study, titled Sentencing Children to Die in Prison, also found that in California, black juveniles are 20 times more likely to receive such sentences.

"For many children, (life without parole) is an effective death sentence," said Michelle Leighton, chief author of the study, which found 51% of such children were first-time offenders.

The US Federal Government and 44 states permit life sentences without the possibility of parole for juvenile offenders.

"Among those states, 13 allow sentencing a child of any age to LWOP and one sets the bar at eight years or older," according to the study.

There are 18 states that could apply the sentence to a child as young as 10, and 20 states that allow it for children 12 or older. The minimum age is 14 in 13 other states.

The report asserts that "harsh sentences dispensed in adult courts do not take into account the lessened culpability of juvenile offenders… Psychologically and neurologically, children cannot be expected to have achieved the same level of mental development as an adult, even when they become teenagers."

Wow we're #1! Out of a mind-boggling 2! Look at the juveniles of today here, they grow up faster and get in more trouble than any generation before. Gives me the creeps a bit. I bet if all those warring African nations had life imprisonment for juveniles they'd eclipse us in a month. Oh, wait, no the wouldn't... They'd just kill the kids and boast about how much they saved on jail expenses.

Well, what I see WAY to f'n much of, and disapprove of, is decent parents that would only spank their child for the offenses of #1 Doing something very dangerous, or #2 EXTREME back-talk, can't spank the kids anymore. And when the kids get older, they get this whole attitude of "If you touch me, I'll call DCFS (Department of Children and Family Services) on you!". I grew up in the day of the wooden paddle with holes drilled in it so it would swing faster. I typically tried either A: not to be a bad kid and B:Not get caught. Nowadays the kids think they can rape, kill, steal, whatever they want and when they come home all they have to do is throw up the DCFS flag and they're free and clear. Some kids really DO need to be behind bars. Maybe they wouldn't be there if we would've tanned their butts when they started experimenting with what they could get away with. NOTE: I don't advocate that step-dads and mom's boyfriends, or even the parents themselves should be making a spanking the catch-all; far from it. I'm just saying when the kids REALLY start getting out of control, conscientious adults should be able to use it as a backup. If the kid comes home after smoking crack and whatnot, a time-out or grounding or no-tv isn't going to make a heck of a lot of difference.

I wonder if our need to imprison children for life is a symptom of a larger social/cultural problem and not the end solution.

There's also the subject of do children have the mental development for the formulation of mens rea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mens_rea#Mens_rea_under_the_American_Law_Institute _Model_Penal_Code) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mens_rea#Mens_rea_under_the_American_Law_Institute _Model_Penal_Code

Also what about this kid: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/scotus/la-me-juvenile19nov19,1,231437.story?coll=la-news-politics-supreme_court&ctrack=1&cset=true

The issue is being litigated in court. Last March, two criminal defense lawyers filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the California Supreme Court challenging the sentencing of Antonio Nunez, who is serving life without parole after being convicted of kidnapping and attempted murder in 2003.

Nunez, who was 14 when the 2001 crimes occurred, was riding in the car of a 27-year-old man he had met at a party. The man offered him a ride home, and on the way kidnapped another man and then negotiated with the man's brother for ransom.

"Nunez's case is the only known case nationwide in which a 14-year-old was sentenced to die in prison for his involvement in a single incident in which no one was injured," according to the petition filed by attorneys Bryan A. Stevenson of Montgomery, Ala., and Jack M. Earley of Irvine.

Some states will charge you as an adult as young as 8 years old... there just seems to me like there's something fundamentally wrong with that. It wouldn't be so bad if the prison system was about rehabilitation. Obviously it's not working... we have more people locked up per-capita than any other western country. We're doing something wrong...

Well I'm saying there is something wrong with American culture since we are creating so many f*cked up kids and locking people up isn't fixing a damn thing since the cause is still there and things are apparently getting worse! Also, REHABILITATION should be the goal, not just keeping them out of the way for a while to later be released into the world after learning more criminal skills from their peers.

It's not even clear if he was a part of that kidnapping plot... but then again he was convicted. Though it wouldn't be the first time an innocent person went to jail.

That's true, Faux, Rehabilitation should be the outcome of imprisonment. But it isn't. Generally, everyone I know who has served a decent amount of time in the pen (more than, say, a year) has come out with more knowledge as to how to be a better and more efficient whatever they did to get caught (better car thief, better mugger, better drug dealer, etc). And by better I mean they learn through other inmates ways not to get caught, and the legal options if you do. The penal institutions in the US are basically a growing cess-pool for learning how to be a better crook. There are exceptions, of course. I've seen people that were pointed on a straight course too. But overall, 90% of people jailed for over a year basically want a cheeseburger, fries, beer and quick cash once they get outta the can. What can we do to fix this? I don't know. Segregation of all inmates is cruel. The problem is, when they're kids, MOST of the time they have a "get out of jail free" card, so they get used to it, and then BAM! they are old enough to be sentenced as an adult and now they don't know how to think any different (from when they were kids). <shrug> Whatcha gunna do?

i grew up in an environment where corporal punishment was the judgement of the day.... infact from my entire intermediate and high school times...i had never ever hear anyone getting jailed or had committed any crimes.

the moment, UN passed a resolution on banning corporal punishment; it seems more and more ppl are either becoming gay or turning into criminals.......but again, who's benefiting from all this? private companies that manage these prisons (in US) and fashion industry for .......


It gets worse....even politicians and "religious" ppl are also becoming homos.

On the thought of locking kids away for life, I give you the case example of a 12 year old girl who slaughtered her parents and little brother because her 25 year old boyfriend told her to. This is a real case from a town about 90 minutes down the road from my place.

The girl has confessed to it all, and has given sufficient testimony to prove it was premeditated murder, and that she's so psychologically disturbed that she'll be a high-risk case her whole life, and all she gets is 10 years, with six of them in a psych ward, and 4 in a group home, and then she gets to walk away free as a bird, out to cause more harm. Gotta love those lenient Canadian laws, eh?

Thankfully her boyfriend will be more than likely going away for life for the three murders, and also for having sex with a minor (which is usually a marked man crime in these prisons), and he won't be alive long enough to make his first parole bid.

Now, seriously, anyone that says that kids can't conceive the thoughts of an adult, I think have only been exposed to really stupid or naive kids. This kid was able to plan the idea, wait until the time was right, and go ahead with the butchering of her entire family in their own home. I'm pretty damn sure that you have to have a relatively mature path of thought, even if you're a total nutter, to come up with and complete that kind of task.