Recently the Supreme Court has been hearing cases for & against the sentence of life without parole (LWOP) for juvenile offenders. I have included here a link that reviews the arguments that are being reviewed that include two completely different cases of juvenile offenders who received the same sentence of LWOP. Juvenile #1 beat his neighbor & than set his house on fire leaving him to die of smoke inhalation. This same young man NINE years later has no remorse for his crime. Juvenile #2 was party to a store robbery where the clerk was shot & killed by another person. He is very remorseful & has made progress in the prison system that he is currently incarcerated in. Here's the link. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/jan-june12/scotus_03-20.html
Parole = conditional release of a prisoner, conditioned on good behavior and regular reporting to the authorities for a set period of time.
Juvenile = physiologically immature or underdeveloped. young; not fully grown.
*Definitions courtesy of Merrian - Websters online dictionary.
So according to these definitions juveniles aren't necessarily at the cognitive level they need to be, to be held accountable for the rest of their lives in my opinion. Parole is considered on a specific criteria of events after a time deemed accordingly suited per each offender. So would it be beyond the spectrum of reason that these offenders be given the chance of parole after a set amount of time to be reconsidered according to their present, rehabilitated behavior? Surely after say for instance; 10, 15, or even 20 years there could be some significant changes. The law as is stated in at least 38 states, states that a heinous crime has the consequence/sentence of LWOP no matter the age of the offender. That is very broad considering each case is supposed to be held individually. Far be it from me being uneducated of all the forms of law but common sense says otherwise.
Some financial aspects of housing an inmate per year in California range from $44,563 - $47,102. That is an astronomical amount of money that falls on the taxpayers of each state to pay out. Of the average annual cost of an inmate only $1,612 goes toward rehabilitation efforts to the inmates. Considering these are supposed to be "correctional facilities", that doesn't quite add up. To find out more on the cost of inmates per year check out this link as the average amount per year increases substantially as the inmates age increases.
Overall there should be consequences for a persons actions, but according to the 8th Amendment of the constitution we as Americans should not be subject to "cruel and/or unusual punishment. At the link below is a raw, tip of the iceberg testament of what goes on in life at a "correctional institution". It is only my opinion (again) that sending a kid into a place with ruthless criminals & repeated sex offenders where he is considered "fresh meat" (this term should need no explaination I hope), is cruel & very unusual , The video is about a 17 yo boy who from the age of 10 was selling drugs & was in & out of the juvenile correctional facilities. By age 16 he was convicted of 2nd degree murder & is now incarcerated at an adult, maximum security prison with adult males with life, or other lengthy prison sentences. It begs to question is this kid really a hardened criminal or is he the product of his environment which influenced him from such an early age onto the wrong road in life? Did the system he was thrown into nurture him as a child needs to be cared for appropriately or was it just another placement & paperwork for an overworked employee? In the facility this young man is at currently it describes how prison life is; fighting, rapes, thievery to mention only a few. This is a recipe for an even bigger, stronger convict & potentially as one inmate reports "creation of a monster." Check out the video here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DII1uVbf83U&feature=fvsr
I don't want to fail to mention the justice the families effected by these crimes deserve. It is definitely a sensitive area for all parties involved. Each case should be considered individually & not fall under these blanket laws so justice can better be served for everyone. Rehabilitation should be priority #1 in correctional institutes with an expectation of each inmate to transform their life not become worse.
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