How do we balance the rights of juvenile criminals with their victims

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > How do we balance the rights of juvenile criminals with their victims

Main Paineframe: Oct 27, 2010

Zoeb posted:

I was thinking about those cold-blooded and heartless 14-year-olds who murdered that guy in DC and only got 7 years in jail. It was on camera that right after they left the wreckage of the car where they killed a man, they were more concerned about their expensive phone.

I've talked to kids who've done stuff like this when I briefly worked at a school. They maimed an elderly teacher's assistant and said that they were glad that she was in the hospital and "gently caress that bitch" and they were more concerned with the fact that they were going to jail (to be let out in a matter of hours) then that they almost killed somebody. They can do stuff like this that I never would have considered and just not show a smidgen of remorse.

"Only" got 7 years in jail? For a 14-year-old, that's half their lives up to that point. Moreover, it's a particularly important 7 years in their education and socialization. They're spending their entire teenage years in prison, and getting out at age 21 with no money, no skills, no way to make a living, and no social connections aside from their families, their middle school classmates, and their fellow inmates. They'll be thoroughly unprepared for living on their own, and while most of their age group was learning how to live independently and make independent life decisions, they spent those years in the highly regimented prison life. Educationally, they'll have a prison GED and probably not much more.

# ¿ Nov 27, 2023 03:06

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# ¿ May 12, 2024 15:12

Main Paineframe: Oct 27, 2010

Hobologist posted:

Well, maybe they should have thought of that before they beat someone half to death. After all, 14 year olds are well known for their abilities to think things through, which is why there's no point in having a separate juvenile system of justice...

Now, there's a difference between stupid teenage poo poo and psychopathy that these attempted murderers displayed. The former can presumably be handled through a separate juvenile system, but for the latter, I can't see a solution beyond locking them up sooner rather than later. The real controversy, I think, is a situation such as those five kids in Michigan who were throwing cinder blocks off an overpass and got someone killed. That is stupid teenage poo poo that managed to get someone killed, and they did get tried as adults, incorrectly in my opinion, but felony murder is a different matter to joyriding in Kias. Let the punishment fit the criminal as well as the crime.

I'm honestly not sure whether you're being sarcastic here. The first part seems sarcastic, but the second part seems serious.

That said, you're missing the point. It's not just a problem for them. When somebody is booted out onto the streets without the basic knowledge needed to function in society (because they spent their crucial schooling and socialization years in prison), that's also a problem for society. Because if they don't have any decent options for making a legitimate living then they'll probably fall right back into crime, simply for lack of other options.

That's the fundamental reasoning behind rehabilitative justice. No matter how mad you are at someone's crimes, the fact of the matter is that once they're done serving their time, they're going to be back out in society and we're all going to have to live with them. Because of that, it's in everyone's best interest to help make sure that inmates are reformed into functional members of society, because their removal from society is usually only temporary.

# ¿ Nov 28, 2023 04:12

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > How do we balance the rights of juvenile criminals with their victims