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

sure he did the crime and it wasnt stealing bubble yum at the grocery and should be eligible for the death penalty like Mumia

 

Well, while he's young, he's still old enough to know that stabbing someone with a knife is more than likely to be lethal. Sooo...

 

Again I wonder based on many responses already if everyone read the entire CNN article in regards to this young man. Like others, I've done some crazy shyte growing up as well. The craziest I can recollect is when me and some guys used to put these big ass boulders on rail road tracks just to see the train go by and split them in half.....kuool. One day this kid put the biggest boulder ever on the tracks, right at that moment I thought the the train was going to derail and I panicked and ran after I told the guy to take it off.

Now this was a passenger train and thankfully the train easily split the boulder in two, had the train derailed and someone was hurt or killed I could have been in a quite a bit of trouble. I was not a bad kid, just a boy acting along with his peers pushing boundaries. Luckily nothing happened and I never place boulders on the track again.

I don't think this 14 yr old understood the ramifications of what death actually is does any 14 yr old? Five years prior this child was nine years old!!! I didn't think about death or injury placing boulders on railroad tracks I just wanted to see the train do some kuool shyte.

IMO he should do time that equates to his age with serious counseling and if he deemed remorseful enough and he's fully understands what he did was wrong he should be allowed back into society after he did his time.

How can you throw a 14 yr old child into prison with adult men? How can you send a 14 yr old to jail for life when other criminal men and women commit heinous acts of murder(s) and are allowed to even be eligible for parole but this 14 yr old is not? How can you have the Manson family every few years or so go up for parole hearing but this 14 yr old is in jail for the rest of his life without even getting a chance to become a contributing productive person in this society.

 

my son spencer is going to turn 14 next week...he is still in many ways a little boy and calls me mommie...recently some of his friends started making fun of him calling me mommie...now when his friends are around or if he is calling me from school, bus or a friends house he says MOM...it's funny to me because he even sounds uncomfortable saying it...in some other ways he is growing up but he isn't a man by any stretch of the imagination...does he know the difference between right and wrong? for the most part yes...but he is still learning...does he think about the consequences of his actions when he has done something wrong NO...not unless he gets caught then he is all about the consequences...spencer is an only child at my house and a step brother at his dad's house...at my house we have kids over almost every day and i am a pretty tough mom...laying out the rules...what they can/can't do...

now go read the whole story of this 14 year old boy now 23 year old man sitting in prison...it's even more wrong that he is in prison for life when you take into consideration how he grew up...i do believe that parents should be held accountable for their children...unfortunately in this case their wasn't much supervision at home...the article states that the step mother forgives him for her son's dealth...she should...i hope she accepts some of the responsibility herself for what happened

 

Depends on how good his lawyer is...

If he comes from a middle class to upper middle class/wealthy family...chances are good he will find his way out of the legal system relatively unscathed.

If he is relying on an overworked and underpaid public defender...he might be in big trouble.

 

those white kids of the Jena 6 incident caused marches and a big hullabuloo, but we are to just overlook this as a case of they are still young and need to be rehabilitated. nah, its a major crime and deserve severe punishment.

 

this is my thought...we dont know the details of that particular case so there is no use in providing imagined projections of what happened b/c we would probably be wrong or just guessing...the fact is that he was convicted of first degree murder, meaning it was premediated...given the fact the kid is a murderer, I provide no hesitation in locking him up and throwing away the key...I mean there is no rehabilitation for the dead kid now is there....I dont know why people are stuck on this rehabilitation thing, if a mutherfucker killed a person then he should just basically be thought of giving up his life for the life he took...who cares if he writes comic or children books, read philosophy books, etc...he took a life and his life should be nothing as a consequence....who would u feel if a 14 year old murdered in cold blood your father, your brother, your son, and get released four years later...you wouldnt go for that...I know it I was in that situation, I would probably kill that mutherfukker myself

 

responsibility to parents are a mixed bag, sometimes you can probably find some fault in the parents, but I am telling you there are some kids mother teresa couldnt even get straight...you cant always hang it on the parents

 

I do not believe, in this case, that life should have even been an option. This is yet another example of why more emphasis should be on each individual case, not just the crime itself.

The thing about being 14 is...yes, you know murder is wrong. Yes, you know that stabbing someone with a knife is wrong, and they could die. But do you really understand death? Do you really, fully, understand the consequences of your actions? Life and death for a 14 year old is a different concept than a 40 year old.

If the victim's mother has forgiven the boy, then why can't the state? When a grieving mother can say "I understand, and I forgive you for murdering my son" that speaks volumes. No mother wants to outlive her children, especially in the cases of murder, and most would never even fathom forgiving someone for such a crime unless there were a good reason.

I have seen evil children. I have personally known kids who should have been locked up from very young ages without an option of getting out, because leaving them free led to even more pain and suffering for others as they got older. One of the kids I'm referring to is only going to be serving about 6 years (less with parole, I believe) for a hate crime where he, along with 5 other people, kidnapped, raped, and tortured a black girl for a week. The boy was in his early 20s when the crime happened, and he'd been in and out of jail since he was 13 for various violent crimes, all of which he was given leniency with because of his age.

The example Sarah gave is a good one for children who, despite their age, are quite obviously a danger to the world around them and do not need coddling. But there is a major difference between what they did at 10, and what this man did at 14.

Hell, forget his age for a moment. How often do you hear of people getting life sentences for stabbing people to death? I rarely hear adults get more than 15 years for murder unless it's premeditated. Why did this guy have to get a tougher sentence, especially at such a young age?

Just another example of how flawed our justice system truly is, in my opinion.

 

well if he was convicted first degree murder then it was premediated...and as far as the grieving mother forgiving him, that honestly doesnt account for anything...is the kat that got murdered forgiving him?? and I dont give a damn about anyone knowing the full ramifications of their actions...if a psychotic person murdered your family member I know you will be highly outraged about that...so I dont care if you are insane, you are delusional, you are retarded...bottom line you killed a mutherfukka and u are going to pay...the dead person is not getting any second chances...


....it really beats me, when everyone have all the feelings for the murderer...fukk that, where are all the sorrow for the murdered...everyone feeling sorry for his punk azz and not one mention any hard feelings for the murdered...that is what is wrong with this justice system...too soft on real criminals...

 

I hear everyone mentioning premeditated murder but to me premeditated murder was not commited by this kid, premeditated to me is when you plan to Murder someone ahead of the situation of when you actually stab/shoot kill someone.

IE you leave your house with a weapon and set out to murder that person that is your intention, that is why you are leaving the house/room to murder someone.

Teenage boys do silly things, i've seen silly things happen when I was a teenager, what Malik True said above reminded me of when i was at the Train station with some pals when i was 15 and one of the boys pushed the boy of the platform onto the tracks, everyone was laughing and mucking about, luckily enough there was no train coming, but the boy was not looking to see if there was, if there had been a train coming and the boy on the track had been killed, IS THAT MURDER?

I personally don't think so, it's stupid boys doing silly dangerous things.

 

That's exactly what the law says about the conditions of a first degree murder.

 

i completely agree with francie on this one...i can't figure out how they saw this as planned...as a parent after reading all of the responses i am fearful on both sides of the coin...how would i feel if something happened to my son and how would i feel if he found himself in this kind of trouble...boys are fearless at this age and constantly testing the boundaries...they horse around...get rough...unfortunately accidents do happen...

yes, sir nose, i think it's horrible that another boy died...

 

Lipstick when I was 8 or 9 yrs old some friends and I used to stack 8 or 9 milk crates to create a ramp, ride down a hill on a bike and jump over more milk crates in between just to see who can go the furthest. NO ONE ever got hurt, but we could have. I wouldn't do that today or if I was 20 yrs, that was crazy. Maad fun though. I think a few guys here have forgotten how loose they were growing up.

 

I do miss the days of being stupid and reckless. I was the king of recklessness.

 

wrong sir (I am the original )

 

It hurts my heart that it happened at all, for both the victim and the killer, because the situation on both sides is extremely sad. All too often, however, people tend to forget that every story has two sides.

How is our justice system too soft on our criminals? This boy was sentenced to life...that sounds a bit harsh, not soft, in my opinion. We're always soft on the ones who need rigid punishments, and hard on the ones who deserve less. Why is that?

I just believe that every crime should be investigated on an individual basis, not labeled and shoved in the pile. Sometimes punishments are too easy because instead of paying attention to the individual crime we just lump it into a category and give a minimum sentence. Sometimes the punishment is far too harsh because of the same thing.

It's a flawed system, nearly everyone would agree on that, at least. Everyone just has a different opinion of what those flaws are. In the end, discussing it does nothing to fix any of it, unless we have a future president and/or dictator on these boards.

 

I'm sorry, but I can't imagine a 14 year old person NOT knowing or understanding death or the implications of it. I don't think it is different between a 14 year old and a 40 year old. If the kid was 8, then I think that the law should be merciful. However, at 12, murderers should be punished as adults because at that age, they understand.

 

oops my mistake...i just saw "sir" and thought it was you

 

When its me you will know it cuz I'm coming at ya lippy