Well, I am really confused about exactly how our
justice system works. There are adults
who can kill a child in cold blood (protected by a heavily flawed law) and walk
free, but a child who may be wrongfully
convicted or involved in a killing (not necessarily the person who pulled the
trigger) is imprisoned for life. This is crazy to me and I just can’t wrap my
head around it.
The Chicago Tribune stated that “advances in our
understanding of brain development show that juveniles have little impulse
control or the capability to fully consider or appreciate the lifetime of
consequences some of their actions hold”. At the same time, experts say
juveniles have a” greater capacity for rehabilitation, particularly if they are
given the right treatment.” Let’s be
frank here. Some of the situations such
as that of Adolfo Davis where children are growing up without guidance or adequate
love and protection would rarely lead to an individual that was successful or a
model citizen. As a society we should
try to eliminate the environment and lifestyle that can lead to the juveniles crimes and eventually imprisonment
of juveniles, rather than waiting and allowing bars and a cell to solve the
issue.
Unfortunately to say there is a racial and
socioeconomic component to this issue. There is a new report published by the
Sentencing Project that also shows the comparison of African American juvenile
lifers to Caucasian juvenile lifers. According to the article “Black Youth Disproportionately Sentenced to Life Without
Parole” the racial dynamics of victims and offenders may determine which offenders are sentenced to juvenile life
without parole. “The proportion of African Americans serving JLWOP sentences
for the killing of a white person (43.4%) is nearly twice the rate at which
African American juveniles are arrested for taking a white person’s life
(23.2%); Conversely, white juvenile offenders with black victims are only about
half as likely (3.6%) to receive a JLWOP sentence as their proportion of
arrests for killing blacks (6.4%).
I understand that laws should be adhered to, but in
certain cases such as Adolfo Davis’ and TrayVon Martin’s, laws are twisted to
benefit those who are in the wrong and punish those who should be granted the
opportunity to remediate themselves. Please
do not misinterpret what I am trying to say.
There are crimes that minors can commit that are especially heinous or
well thought out, therefore should be punished accordingly. However,
the juveniles who after years of
remediation can be entered back into society and their families, and live
fruitful lives, should be allowed to do so.
No comments:
Post a Comment