Should anyone ever receive 30 years to life in prison for...

[11 Bravo]

a crime committed when they were 12 years old?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. again..the better question is this

Let's say Pittman murdered his grandparents. After murdering his grandparents for which the state finds he is an adult for purposes of punishment, he stops at McDonald's and in the bathroom he is molested by a 50 year old. For the purposes of prosecuting the 50 year old, was Pittman an adult or a child just moments after the crime for which he is being tried as an adult?

Anyone care to take a stab at that?

[11 Bravo]

9. That is one Hell of a good question!

I can't wait to spring it on a few friends and aquaintances who claim age is irrelevant, that it's the severity of the crime which should be the prime determinant of punishment.

[MissB]

11. Exactly.

:toast:

[John BigBootay]

13. Good point.

It seems the justice system generally games the system to ensure the harshest punishment possible in cases such as murder and molestation.

I generally like harsh sentences for really heinous crimes-- but you have a good point to ponder.

[imenja]

2. no, I don't think so

all studies show young adolescents don't have the same capacity for judgment and restraint as adults. Advocates of prosecuting children as adults focus on the heinous nature of the crimes themselves. But one's mental state at the time an act is committed is crucial in assessing criminal culpability.
Also, a major irony in these situations is that the children usually aren't able to make their own plea deals with prosecutes. Lionel Tates's mother rejected his plea deal, but it was the boy who received a life sentence. If a child can't enter into his own plea agreement, why should he be tried as an adult?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

3. young males brains don't even complete the myelonization process

until they are between 19 and 22 years old.

[imenja]

4. What is myelonization?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

6. It is the maturation of the neural tissue around the central nervous

system and relevant to all aspects of brain function ( I am explaining this as a lay person...had a doc explain it to me for a brain injury case years ago)

[DulceDecorum]

12. That's why the Pentagon recruits heavily from under 21.

Wellstone managed to get the US allow other nations to forbid their children from going to war.
The US was, apparently, all for it.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

14. Good point...once they have a well functioning brain.....:)

[spunky]

7. Nevermind, misread post.

[goddess40]

5. I give you a "never" vote

There are reasons that we have age limits for things. 16 - drive a car, 18 vote, 21 drink to make an exception for a 12 year old to face life is disgusting.

[firebee]

8. Here's my take

He was a mentally unstable 12 year old coming down off of Zoloft. The side effect of going off Zoloft is extremely depressed and violent behavior. Personally, I'd plea insanity if I was his lawyer. It's not like their's not enough evidence indicating this kid was mentally unstable.

How does prosecution charge a mentally unstable 12 year old that's on the bottom end of Zoloft as an adult?

[cynatnite]

10. This is disgusting

I don't see what it solves by locking up a 12 year old boy for life. It's insane to me.

I thought it was the zoloft and his mental capacity together which contributed. I don't see how he would be fully capable of understanding what he did or the long term impact.

The boy needs help. Not prison.

[noonwitch]

15. Easy answer, no. But really, it's a tougher question than that

A sociopath is a sociopath. Some can be worked with if they're caught young. Most can't.

My personal opinion, based on an 18 year career working with kids in the delinquency and foster care systems is that sociopaths are made, not born that way. Either severe abuse/neglect, sexual abuse or a pattern of complete parental indifference coupled with a head injury at a young age (documented or not)is what makes one into a sociopath. It's not one factor, but a combination.

Actually, I think it's the indifference that really affects a young person in the developmental/psychological side of it. It's what leads a youth to believe that other people aren't real, because their needs were ignored. It makes it so that the youth in question never learns to form appropriate bonds with other people. And, if they are abused or hurt by someone other than their parents, and the parents don't respond, the damage is compounded. The vast majority of kids who have experienced severe physical and sexual abuse do not end up sociopaths (not that they don't have other problems). At least one kid in a household with crackhead/junkie (the epitome of indifferency) parents ends up being one.

Ted Bundy is the best example, although I don't know about the head injury part. I read some interviews with him and with some of his relatives that reveal massive dysfunction within a basic middle class family backround. His maternal aunts always thought that his grandfather was his father, and that the gf molested his mother. His mother appeared to be detatched and uninvolved, and not very disturbed by his crimes or his pending execution. He tried to blame it all on porn at the last minute, but viewing porn does not lead to killing possibly hundreds of women.

[TexasSissy]

16. Some crimes are so heinous and indicative of a damaged

person that even a 12 year old should be put away for an indeterminable length of time for doing them. But put away in prison may not be the answer. A mental institution, maybe? It is possible that s/he is so damaged mentally that s/he cannot ever become a nonviolent, productive member of society.

I'm speaking of a horrendous act, of course. In any case, committing a heinous, murderous act when you're 12, and then getting out six years later when you reach adulthood is not the answer. Society needs to be protected. It's not very many 12 year olds who commit heinous crimes.

I think the courts and communities should decide, though, with the view of protecting society from someone who has proven capable of heinous, violent acts.