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?