A Child’s Mistake Deserves a Child’s Consequence

Kathryn Lyle

Trial Search: Editorial Paper

April 8, 2011

A Child’s Mistake Deserves a Child’s Consequence

There are over 2,500 juveniles serving life sentences without parole (LWOP) in the United States currently. Sentencing juveniles to LWOP is equivalent to giving up on them. Is it right to give up on a kids who most likely have lived in unstable abusive homes their whole lives? All kids make mistakes some are more severe than others and some deserve punishment but punishment for a child is not taking their entire life away from them. Juveniles should not be sentenced to LWOP because first of all it is inhumane and violates the 8^th amendment, secondly adolescent brains have not fully developed yet, and lastly it costs thousands of dollars to send juveniles to prison not to mention LWOP, if we made LWOP for juveniles illegal we could spend less money for a more effective path of rehabilitation.

         

          Almost all juveniles as I stated before come from unstable homes living in poverty. Juveniles are not taught properly because many parents of juveniles abuse drugs and alcohol and cannot provide for their child. To charge kids with LWOP who don’t know any better is considered cruel and unusual punishment and violates the 8^th amendment. The 8^th amendment protects society from punishment that includes suffering and humiliation. This is referring to torture which was a form of punishment used years and years ago. Nowadays, we may not inflict physical suffering but LWOP for juveniles causes emotional suffering which in some cases may be worse. To inflict such a harsh punishment on a child is completely inhumane. Terrance Graham was just 17 when he was sentenced to LWOP. Graham was a repeat offender both crimes were armed robberies, and both were non-homicidal crimes. On appeal, Graham argued life sentences for juveniles who committed non-homicidal crimes violate the 8^th amendment but Florida did not agree, and he was sentenced for life imprisonment in 2006. The Supreme Court revisited this case in 2010 and then Terrance Graham’s voice was finally heard. The Supreme Court issued a law stating sentencing LWOP to juveniles for non-homicidal crimes violates the 8^th amendment and therefore it is against the law. Graham was then resentenced to what his lawyer predicted to be still a long time. This is the disturbing part: 129 adults are still serving non-parole life sentences for non-homicidal crimes that were committed when they were juveniles. That is cruel and unusual punishment that we should not put up with as U.S. citizens. We all have voices it’s time to talk, to yell; to fight for the children who can’t.

          The teenage brain is a spectacular, unique, and mysterious thing. Neuroscience specialists have been researching it for years now and the discoveries have been ground breaking. You may be a teenager, or you may know or have one of your own and yes you might believe teen brains work in different ways but most people are not aware of how prominent these differences are. Studies have shown that a teenage brain has difficulty with impulse control, judgment, planning, and decision making. All these characteristics help differentiate right from wrong and to prevent immediately acting on your emotions. When children's brains are not developed and they don't have those characteristics they cannot think throughly through a decision such as committing a crime as an adult would. Teens are also more vulnerable to peer pressure which happens when there is more than one person involved in the crime. Putting children in jail that have not even mentally developed yet is a morally wrong decision. The prefrontal cortex is the place in the brain where a person’s decision making and judgment skills take place. Studies have shown that the prefrontal cortex is not developed until the age of 25. If the prefrontal cortex is not developed until then, it is unethical to sentence underage criminals whose brains do not function well enough to make positive of negative choices. When teen brains are not fully developed their choices can be seen as stupid or irresponsible, teenagers are known for making mistakes it is what they do but they should not have their lives taken away by the court of law for the mistakes that they make.

          The cost of criminals placed in jail is something that most people are not aware of. On average it costs 43,000 dollars per year to pay for a juvenile in prison, that would mean if a juvenile was put into jail at the age of sixteen and died there at the age of 80 (an average lifespan) the government would have paid $2,752,000 for just one juvenile! If we did not sentence juveniles to LWOP we would be saving billions of dollars for our government. The few people that are aware of the cost of imprisonment of juveniles assume that most of this money is going towards rehabilitation but that is not true. Most of the money goes towards medical care, supervision, and operating costs for the juvenile. If we were to get rid of LWOP then those costs would go way down and then we could budget the money into rehabilitation programs which is a far more effective way to spend government money. This would protect society but also give juveniles a second chance to live productively in society. Spending millions of dollars for things such as supervision and operating costs are not effective ways to improve society. To be proactive with the government money we need to rehabilitate the juveniles and fix the real issues not ignore them and lock minors up only to throw millions of dollars out the window. 

          Yes, juveniles do need punishment for severe mistakes that they make but their punishment needs to be a child-like punishment not adult-like, LWOP is far too harsh for children. Not only does it violate the 8^th amendment it also costs thousands of dollars each year for every juvenile whom are not even fully developed in the brain yet. The law should not authorize waiving children into adult court which is how children are sentenced to life in prison, this is morally wrong. Imagine you little brother, the kid down the street, your child, or even yourself being sentenced to LWOP; imagine watching a life of a child taken away by the court of law. Would you stand there and watch a loved one leave a life behind or would you do something about it? It is your choice, just remember that, that juvenile who is sentenced to LWOP you hear about on the news is a son or a daughter, is a big brother, and is a best friend. That juvenile is person, a person that harbors hope beneath the surface, so what will you choose?

Interview Email Log

EMAIL LOG: INTERVIEW

Interview

I interviewed Jason Szanyi an attorney at Center for Children's Law and Policy in Washington, DC.  I asked him 12 questions concerning the Juvenile Justice System. Jason see's misdemeanor drug possession, unauthorized use of a vehicle, and robberies for boys on a daily bases during his job. For girls he stated that most of the crimes he usually deals with regularly are truancy, simple assault, and prostitution. Szanyi is completely against sentencing juveniles to lifetime imprisonment and is also against the death penalty in general. He stated that putting a child away in prison for life cuts against the juvenile courts purpose of rehabilitation. When asked about the flaws of the juvenile justice system he had a lot to say,"In every state, services aren’t funded at the level they would need to be in order to for the juvenile justice system to achieve its twin mandate of rehabilitation and accountability. The system relies too heavily on incarceration at facilities far away from a youth’s home, when evidence shows that community-based services are far more effective at reducing the likelihood of recidivism. Also, we arrest, prosecute, and lock up a disproportionate number of African-American and Latino youth." The last sentence of that quote hit on another important point concerning the juvenile justice system, racism. Szanyi said that he see's a lot of racism take place in juvenile court, stating that kids of color are put into the system substantially more  often and that the more often these kids are put into the system the harsher the punishment resulting in children of color receiving harsher punishment. When he started to talk about bias of gender I immediately assumed that males receive harsher punishments than females which in some cases would be unfair but Szanyi stated that females are locked up for things that normally boys wouldn't be. This is because the judge either feels the need to protect the girl or  because there are not as many good services for girls compared to the service boys receive. One of the most powerful things Szanyi said was when asked if lifetime imprisonment violates the 8th amendment. He stated that if you tell kids that they are impossible to rehabilitate, then that runs counter to the entire philosophy behind having a separate juvenile justice system. One the questions I asked was what do you consider cruel and unusual punishment? Szanyi said that on top of the death penalty and lifetime imprisonment he also feels that using pepper spray on a juvenile in a locked facility, using mechanical restraints, and placing juveniles in isolation rooms all violates the 8th amendment. Overall this interview persuaded me towards believing that juveniles should NOT be sentenced to life in prison, it gave me good solid information from a great source, and gave me a truthful look on how the juvenile justice system works from someone who is surrounded by it everyday! 

Conducting this interview was hard. Last week I emailed about 5 different candidates for interviews and all shut me down saying they didn't have time to answer my questions or simply did not respond, this was frustrating. I emailed three people for National Juvenile Defender Center including the deputy director, executive directer, and the senior policy and communication advisor and two people from the Youth Law Center who are both staff attorneys. Luckily, one of these people is Jason Szanyi colleague and forwarded my email to him. In the middle of this I also contacted a family friend Tom L’Esperance who is the Chef of Vermont State Police who I was planning on interviewing when no one had emailed me back from the other organizations. Unfortunately, Tom L’Esperance was on a business trip this week and I could not meet up with him for the interview. After I found out I would not be able to interview L’Esperance, Jason Szanyi emailed me back with answers to my interview questions. Although I could not call Mr. Szanyi on the phone for my interview due to the deadline, I feel I received more information through email because I wouldn’t have taken as good of notes compared to what Mr. Szanyi wrote. I enjoyed Szanyi’s answers because I could tell he spent time answering them and they included a lot of information that was helpful. Coming up with questions was very easy for me. Overall, I think I got was needed from this interview and although it was tough getting there it was a success in the end. 

Video Expressing The Con Side of this Issue

Here is a video showing that downside to sentencing juveniles to life in prison. It highlights how the juvenile and their families feel about their situations, and also shows how different the United States is from other countries concerning this issue. 

Video Con Side

This video is on the con side of this issue and includes court cases concerning this issue 

Stakeholders

Pro:

Many people believe that when a person is a threat to society and has no potential to change that status then they should be sentenced to life in prison, no matter how old they are, what their race is, or their gender. In simpler words they believe in equal punishment for all. Then there is a view on this issue that is still pro lifetime imprisonment for juveniles but they are more on the line, or in other words swaying toward the con side of this issue. They believe in some (rare) situations life imprisonment may be necessary. For example if a juvenile committed a brutal homicidal crime, when a juvenile is a treat to society, when there is no hope in rehabilitation, and when the juvenile cannot follow court orders properly. The law's goal is to protect the general public from threats such as criminals if the punishment they a assign to a juvenile achieves that goal then that is a the correct punishment, any more than that violates the 8th amendment. The population in which are pro take in to consideration the safety of society and also the family and friends in which the juvenile hurt. Imagine if a family member was brutally murdered by a 16 year old, would you want that 16 year old let out of prison 25 years later as a 41 year old with still half his life to live?

Con:

Those who don't believe in life time sentences given to juveniles wonder if fair treatment is the same as equal treatment? Should a 15 year old shoplifter be given the same punishment as a 30 year old shoplifter? The part of the population who are on the con side of this issue tend to be more forgiving of juveniles because they take the juveniles living situation and their childhood into consideration. Almost always the juvenile criminals have very troubled childhoods living in dangerous and unstable homes. Then there are those who are often neuroscience specialists that believe the development of the adolescent brain is the culprit to their impulsive decisions. Believing that juveniles shouldn't be put in jail for the rest of their lives doesn't mean that you don't believe in any punishment for juveniles who have broken the law they just see lifetime sentencing for juveniles as cruel and unusual punishment which means it violates the 8th amendment. Con believers think that taking in all aspects of the juveniles life and creating effective rehabilitation plans are an extremely important factors in the juvenile justice system. This issue has vast amounts of gray area where no one really has authority to draw the line at a certain age because all cases are different, all have exceptions or different details that sway you either way just for the specific case. Many people go back and forth of this issue including me its hard to take a side when each case is so unique, I understand why this issue is so controversial seeing how after many hours researching the topic I still can't decide which side I am on. 


A picture visually showing Brain development from adolescents to adults 

Patchin, Justin. "Juvenile Justice: Outlook." Issues: Understanding Controversy and Society.

ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 3 Apr. 2011.

Patchin, Justin. "Juvenile Justice: Overview." Issues: Understanding Controversy and Society.

ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 3 Apr. 2011.

Panel Day Reflections

The panelists at the Life Imprisonment for Juveniles panel were Beth Relyea, Andy Strauss, and David Jacques. Generally, Beth stated that she was more forgiving of juveniles she felt that minors should be given second chances in court and should not be given life sentences. Andy, a lawyer and David, a parole officer felt slightly differently. Both thought that in some situations life sentences are necessary to protect the general public.  When asked about the death penalty Beth immediately responded no, David said yes, and Andy said to protect society sometimes it is needed. These answers reflected on the level harshness of their beliefs on other issues such as lifetime imprisonment of juveniles. Personally, I agree with Andy, sometimes certain cases truly do threaten the public and for that we must prevent further crimes on innocent people and sentence some juveniles to life in prison. That being said the crime must fit the punishment, the court should give the very least punishment to a juvenile that can protect the public anymore than that violates the 8th amendment. All panelists agreed that rehabilitation is an important factor of the Juvenile Justice System, Andy went further to say that when sentencing lifetime imprisonment to a Juvenile all members in court should agree that the juvenile is beyond rehabilitation on top of being a threat to society. I agree with this as well, and for juveniles not being sentenced to life in prison but are still being charged rehabilitation is key to prevent possibly more juveniles in prison for the rest of their lives.