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In Prison for life

F

felixthecoach

New Member
arg-fallbackName="felixthecoach"/>
Just thought I'd post a CNN article I found interesting.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/08/teens.life.sentence/index.html

My personal opinion is that these convicts should be given a chance at parole. What do you think.
 
arg-fallbackName="King Tyrant Lizard"/>
Let's be honest. These kids are stupid. Probobly incurably so. There is no sense in having any emotions towards this matter. At least this way they can't go around freely disrupting the remaining vestiges of civilized society.
 
arg-fallbackName="Ozymandyus"/>
Let's be honest... this could be you if not for you being lucky as shit and being born into a caring family. To punish someone with a life sentence with no possibility of parole for being born into a shitty life is terrible in the extreme.

No way in hell someone should be sent to jail for life at the age of 14 - if we believe in rehabilitation at all then that is simply ridiculous.
 
arg-fallbackName="ImprobableJoe"/>
We don't consider children responsible enough to drive cars, vote, join the military, or make medical decisions for themselves... but they are responsible enough to serve a life sentence? Really? What kind of vengeful, frankly cowardly society do we live in?
 
arg-fallbackName="King Tyrant Lizard"/>
One that doesn't permit its members to escalate their childish rough-housing into murder. I wasn't that stupid when I was that young, nor was anyone I knew. This guy didn't make the minimum cut to be allowed to continue in society, so there is no reason to lament his no longer being with us.
 
arg-fallbackName="ImprobableJoe"/>
King Tyrant Lizard said:
One that doesn't permit its members to escalate their childish rough-housing into murder. I wasn't that stupid when I was that young, nor was anyone I knew. This guy didn't make the minimum cut to be allowed to continue in society, so there is no reason to lament his no longer being with us.
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You don't seem to understand the difference between "child" and "adult"... are you sure you aren't a recently banned troll with issues? :D
 
arg-fallbackName="King Tyrant Lizard"/>
I'm just saying, anyone who doesn't know enough to not do that by the age of 14 is never going to know enough at any age. :cool:
 
arg-fallbackName="irmerk"/>
ImprobableJoe said:
We don't consider children responsible enough to drive cars, vote, join the military, or make medical decisions for themselves... but they are responsible enough to serve a life sentence? Really? What kind of vengeful, frankly cowardly society do we live in?
Click to expand...

I think I am in love...
 
arg-fallbackName="ImprobableJoe"/>
King Tyrant Lizard said:
I'm just saying, anyone who doesn't know enough to not do that by the age of 14 is never going to know enough at any age. :cool:
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Really? That's just dumb, and we both know it.
 
arg-fallbackName="ImprobableJoe"/>
King Tyrant Lizard said:
What I think is dumb is that kid knifing that other kid.
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Yeah... but dumb at 14 isn't dumb for life. Again, that's why we don't give children the full rights and responsibilities of adulthood. We KNOW kids are dumb, and that they grow out of it.
 
arg-fallbackName="Aught3"/>
felixthecoach said:
My personal opinion is that these convicts should be given a chance at parole. What do you think.
Click to expand...
I agree, they should be given a chance at parole. Only after a significant amount of time in jail, obviously.
 
arg-fallbackName="Cryogeneric"/>
ImprobableJoe said:
We don't consider children responsible enough to drive cars, vote, join the military, or make medical decisions for themselves... but they are responsible enough to serve a life sentence? Really? What kind of vengeful, frankly cowardly society do we live in?
Click to expand...

Not saying I agree with everything being said in this thread, but to be fair, a 14 year old probably doesn't meet the physical requirements for driving a car or firing an automatic weapon, nor the intellectual experience for a self diagnosis or treatment option.

It doesn't take much however, to understand what will happen to someone if you put a knife in their torso.
 
arg-fallbackName="Ozymandyus"/>
Wow, the general consensus is actually for sending a 14 year old boy, who was horribly abused and broken, to jail for the rest of his life.

I am truly shocked. To say there is no chance for a 14 year old to be rehabilitated is insane to me. Who has a fully developed moral code at age 14? How can we still force someone to go to school and believe we must teach them, but at the same time believe that we CAN'T teach them, or at least certain ones of them?

It is beyond travesty that not only could we not protect this child who was severely violated and several laws were broken against him, and when he becomes unbalanced in a way that we could almost predict from his circumstances we lock him away for life. How about instead we take him out of his broken situation and treat him like a human being? Show him that we actually care about all members of our society and we are sorry that we did not protect him? Give him a chance to atone for his sins instead of just housing him for the next 60 odd years?

Is that SERIOUSLY the best we can come up with?

Edit: That wasn't the general consensus at all. Apologies.
 
arg-fallbackName="felixthecoach"/>
Ozymandyus said:
Wow, the general consensus is actually for sending a 14 year old boy, who was horribly abused and broken, to jail for the rest of his life.
Click to expand...

Yeah it's kind of disappointing. I was expecting more responses that understand human development. I appreciate that people have opinions about this, but some of the answers are not very thought through. In general, people don't commit murder because they are somehow evil, especially people who have been alive for barely a decade.

So my take is: fine, if he needs to be punished then punish him. Society runs of reciprocal altruism (eye for eye/tooth for tooth), but also recognize the situational and biological causes that may be at work and give this person a second chance to contribute to society. Hell, even if he is mentally sick, it is not just to lock him up in prison forever.
 
arg-fallbackName="felixthecoach"/>
You know, i have to retract my disappointment. there are really only like 7 people posting. Of those 7, I think 5 or 6 vote parole or some kind of relaxation of punishment.
 
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