Should a 14yr go to jail for life, without parole?

[FONT=&quot]Think about that statement. Life without parole means you don’t even get a hearing or interviewed to determine if you have been rehabilitated, ashamed or remorseful. As a child you are in jail with adults for the rest of your life until they come for your body when you've passed away, inside the penal system!

Taken from CNN

[/FONT]It began as horseplay, with two teenage stepbrothers chasing each other with blow guns and darts. But it soon escalated when one of the boys grabbed a knife. The older teen, Michael Barton, 17, was dead by the time he reached the hospital. The younger boy, Quantel Lotts, 14, would eventually become one of Missouri's youngest lifers. Lotts was sentenced in Missouri's St. Francois County Circuit Court in 2002 to life in prison without parole for first-degree murder in his stepbrother's stabbing death.

It made no difference that at the time of the deadly scuffle, Lotts was barely old enough to watch PG-13 movie and too young to drive, vote or buy beer. "They locked me up and threw away the keys," Lotts, now 23, said from prison. "They took away all hope for the future."His stepmother, the victim's mother, has forgiven Lotts and is working with lawyers to gain his release.

Lotts is one of at least 73 U.S. inmates -- most of them minorities -- who were sentenced to spend the rest of their lives in prison for crimes committed when they were 13 or 14, according to the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit organization in Alabama that defends indigent defendants and prisoners. The 73 are just a fraction of the more than 2,000 offenders serving life sentences for crimes they committed as minors under the age of 18.

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Quantel Lotts

 

no i don't think that this young man should be in prison for the rest of his life...it was horseplay between two boys that went too far resulting in a death...it wasn't well thought out or planned...so in this case they should have sent him to a detention center until he turned 18 or 21...i "wish" that there was a way that an objective non biased person in authority could make these decisions on an individual basis...there are so many things wrong with the prison system...i hope to see some reform under this new presidency

 

Yes, keep his ass, and anyone else's dumbass like that in jail. Kid don't like it? Tough titty. Shouldn't have done it. That's his bad. Shit, I'd fry his little ass in the chair if states still allowed it.

At 14 years old, you know murder is bad. You should know that shit. I assume the kid was in 8th or 9th grade. That was pretty long ago for me, but kinda not that long ago for me since I was in 9th grade, but I wasn't stupid enough to play around like that and possibly kill someone.

 

did you grow up with a step brother close to your age? if not, then you don't or wouldn't understand what his experience was in that house...maybe they played rough alot...and this time things just got way out of hand...it's not like the kid stabbed his step-brother while he was fast asleep in bed...they didn't start out with knives...it escalated into knives and to be real honest with you...the older one should have known better...he should have had better control of the situation...in the story he was a willing participant in this horseplay...it's a terrible tragedy...

btw, i am not against life in prison or the death penalty...i can't believe they let some of these people live as long as they do...scott pederson, bobby cutts, the menendez brothers...all of these media celebrity killings make me sick...i think they are all living too well in prison...

 

I grew up with brothers and a sister, we used to play fight all the time but it never got to the stage of stabbing each other. I was in hospital occasionally because I was the one that was mainly picked on when we were really young.

I think he should get like... 40 years or something, I don't see how this is different from any other kind of murder.

Jamie Bulger's murderers were only 10 when they tortured and killed the toddler they abducted... they're now out of juvvie with new identities and being supported financially by the state. It costs millions to give these sickos new identities for killing someone. Sorry, don't get it.

If Jacob killed his step brother I'd want him to spend his life in jail. Murder is murder. If you take a knife to someone it's not play fighting, you intend to kill them.

 

this is a really good example of making decisions on a case by case basis...abducting, torturing and killing a toddler...they got off way too easy...all of that at age 10 is just too twisted for me...i would send them to jail for a very long time and i would sterilize them so that they would never be able to have kids of their own...

 

These are very, very interesting comments thus far. Please take a gander at the entire article if you have not. This story is TRAGIC...

 

Actually, I kinda did grow up with a step brother for a few years close to my age(if you count a 3 or 4 year difference close, and luckily I didn't see him most of the time), or maybe I kinda didn't since my ex-step dad found out that it was not his kid after 10 years since his wife before that turned out to be a lying ho, but that's not my problem, and I don't care about their situation, or my ex-step dad and whatnot and yadayada and now I'm rambling.

Yeah, maybe they did play rough. You're right. And yeah, the older one should have had control of the situation. you're right. I could place blame on the 17 year old too. I don't remember being that stupid back in 12th grade though. Yeah, we'd have bb gun fights, and shoot nail guns(at can toward a wall, and we'd make sure not to aim that thing high so it would go over the fence), but we'd never play fight with knifes(unless you count those Styrofoam swords at wal-mart weapons) I still stand by what I said.

So yeah, you're right.

But the thing I wonder about is if the kid grabbed the knife because he got mad, or they were just fucking around with the knife for fun with no intention to harm, which I'm sure a 14 year old would grab a knife just for fun, since most kids around that age know damn well what they can do with that.

And on another note, I hated hearing about that scott petersen bullshit. EVERY DAY for 2 years on the news I had to hear about that, no matter what time of day. And I doubt scotty is living good in prison. I heard he got fucked up like 2 days after making it to prison.

 

The FUCK???????????

 

I think a few years jail and counseling are sufficient unless it was some really cruel and planned thing,sadistic,....

 

There are no acceptable solutions. If we put him into prison, he wil emerge a hardened criminal. Puttin someone in prison for the rest of their life when they are too young to even understand their crime and it consequences isnt the answer either.

These young kids need to learn respect for human life, but they wont learn it from prison.

 

Yep 10 years old terrible isn't it,
children killing children is one of the crimes i find most shocking, obviously because the victim is a child, but also because how on earth do you punish in the right way! but how can you punish a child the same way you would an adult ? well you can't, because murderers or not they are still children.

Over here in Britain, we also had Mary Bell who killed 2 children when she was just 10 years old, one of the children was 3 one 4 she was convicted of manslaughter due to deminished responsibility, its interesting to note that she also had a partner in crime another little girl who participated.

Ive read the book ref Mary Bell and it tells you about the childhood that made her that monster, ie her mother was a dominatrix prostitute and Mary was left to run wild in the streets.

Children aren't born monsters, unfortunately sometimes we make them that way afterwards.


Ref the 14 year old, i personally think that he has done enough time for a mistake/accident that should never have happened, things should be dealt with on a case by case basis.

 

Once again where were the parents? The parents are as guilty as the child.

 

It's sad, really sad. I don't think the boy should spend the rest of his life in prison, but he needs to be punished for his crime. I think 25-30 years in prison's sufficient

 

That's a difficult call to make. Coming from a society with extremely lenient jail sentences, I am all for increasing terms. But, 14 - wow. Yes, you know murder is wrong, but I don't know if you could understand the full impact of that.

I think the intent is different between this and Jamie Bulger's case (which is still too horrific to think about). There was clear intent with the JB case...

At some point, a line has to be drawn. Where is that made? As soon as we start saying that they're different, then it becomes subjective and much harder to deal with legally (I would imagine).

Wherever the line is drawn, someone will get off lightly, and someone will have it really tough. Such is the nature of the legal system/s.

 

I would need to know more details before I can have my own little opinion.

 

NO they arent. This is not a 6 year old kid. This is a 14 year old kids in TODAY's SOCIETY, they grow up quick and are well aware of what they are doing. By the time I was 8 years I knew never to play with knives in any circumstances.

If the boy was indeed Playing and accidentally did it, then Jail time with parole is right. If he did it in anger ("and with the sentence given to him Im sure he did) then they should lock him up and throw away the key. To many youngsters grow up thinking they are untouchable and unaccountable for there actions. At 14 this guy is old enough to not use his age as an excuse for cold blooded murder.

 

He was 14.

They should give him a break and he should only serve 20yrs max.

 

No. Children and teens do not have the mental capacity and reasoning that adults do.

 

I wonder what people consider the age cutoff line between not having the mental capacity and having the mental capacity.