Young Minds and Crime

When the supreme court decides on whether or not to sentence juvenile offenders to life without parole, what will they be thinking of? The families of victims gone but never forgotten? The idea that living in our society affords the  basic decencies of respect, honor, and justice for all? Upholding the constitution?
I suppose any number of questions and answers will be racing through the minds of those who are to decide these youngsters' fates. But whatever happened to the concept of rehabilitation? I realize of course that we have to keep the community safe and in so doing, certain rules should be followed. When they are not, offenders must be held accountable. But how do we do this with juvenile offenders and yet still find a way to bring positive influences to their important but gradual development? Steve Mills of the Chicago Tribune reports that, "...experts say juveniles have a greater capacity for rehabilitation, particularly if they are given the right treatment".
If we are holding back from helping young offenders because we think they are not our responsibility we'd better think again. Our prison system has become an overcrowded holding cell of avoidance, resentments and pain. Each of us may not be cut out to be a child's mentor, to be of service to those living on the edge of our world, but as a society we must be better than the individual.
This is not to discount the many family members who must live everyday without their loved ones. They suffer senselessly and must navigate that road through fear and unimaginable grief. There are support groups and counselors within our system whose sole aim is to go through this experience with them. They are provided with as much help as we can give them, which is some cases may not count for much. But do we not believe that young offenders should be supported and guided as well?
Consider this--"Hard science demonstrates that teenagers and young adults are not fully mature in their judgment, problem solving and decision-making capacities," (http://act4jj.org/media/factsheets/factsheet_12.pdf). There is a lot about the brain we do not know but something we do know is that the part of the brain that serves to run our impulse control, advanced thought, and reasoning skills is the very last area to mature. How can we not consider this when developing sentences for offenders who aren't operating with all of their capacities? I understand that we are all entitled to our beliefs and opinions AND I recognize that I cannot relate to someone who has lost a loved one to the hands of an immature murderer. Dealing with this is beyond me. I do, however, believe that as fellow human beings we owe it to ourselves to help each other out, to guide those of us who have no tools for living, and to treat each other with love and tolerance. We owe it to ourselves as a society so that we can change and evolve and somehow survive this technological adolescence we find ourselves in. The fact that this is a debatable topic is almost shameful. How will we ever not only survive but flourish if we cannot support those who more than likely came into this world with the cards stacked against them? A child that commits a heinous crime such as murder obviously needs proper treatment and attention; they don't need to be locked away and conveniently forgotten by society at large, or by the healthcare system. We're only harming our world by avoiding the problem instead of looking for the solution.