Life Sentences for Juveniles?

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If you are so ashamed of being an American citizen, supporting our government and its representatives, you should leave our magnificent free country. They make decisions for the unanimous well being of the United States, as a whole. You are ignorant and rather frustrating comments of the "poor character" of our illustrious government leaders shows that you are a closed minded American that wants something to complain about. You need to get your priorities straight. Human beings, no matter what age, when they commit an act that is gruesome, psychotic, and/or intentionally hurts or destroy another person’s well being, they need permanent and drastic behavioral rehabilitation. The judicial system of our government, in my opinion, has become lax and if anything punishments should become much more severe. Humans are stubborn creatures, they must be treated as so.

Aaron Boretos of MD 2:01PM November 16, 2009

You don't know whether it was okay for a father to beat his child bloody for not getting into a cab? You might ask your heavenly Father, or a priest/pastor/chaplain, for some serious guidance on this point, sir.
The lack of compassion you possess makes me question your empathy for any living thing. If you saw a child being beaten and you didn't stop it - does that mean it was acceptable to you?! By the way, in the US, it is a crime to be a witness to a crime (child abuse) and not do anything about it. I'm not sure you qualify as an expert on this particular topic.

DS of KY 1:09PM November 13, 2009

To read about another example of how the justice system mistreats juveniles in the criminal justice system when sentencing them to die in prison, please read about the case of Efrén Paredes, Jr. Efrén was arrested for a crime he did not commit at age 15 and sentenced to three life sentences. To date he has been imprisoned over 20 years. You can learn more about this case at http://tinyurl.com/FreeEPJ.

Velia Koppenhoefer of MI 8:37AM November 13, 2009

Yes. Pay the price for the crime, period. Everyone evaluates the result of their actions. If there is no threat, then they do it. Most older criminals direct the younger criminals. Also, the younger criminals look at how they have been punished and blow off any future punishment because they received little to no punishment for their actions so far. In the old testament, punishment could be a stoning if the elders saw fit once the parent handed over the son or daughter for punishment. Without a doubt, this helped keep everyone in line. Today, we can't even spank our children. They receive no punishment for any criminal activity. Locking them away only cost the hard working people of our country. There is nothing in return for the debt these criminals owe the public that payed for their medical, meals and the like. We have good people in our country now suffering more then the prisoners locked up. We have lost the concept of punishment. We now operate under the pretense that loss of freedom is punishment. For many, being directed, fed, gathered together with others that have the same beliefs is no punishment. What we need is a way of placing fear in the mind of anyone preparing to commit a crime. We use to have the fear of God, (that still works for me), but many live only for today, not for tomorrow let alone after death. Do I have an answer? No, not really. Hard labor to repay the recipient of the crime committed is the only real justice, and repaying our public system for the cost of their prison term. When I was in Egypt, I watched a young girl beaten bloody by her father for not getting into a cab. Is that justice? I don't know, I just know it was accepted as others did not step in to stop it. I've heard of lots of other punishments overseas also, the questions is do that have the crime levels and number of prisoners we have today? I do believe if you do harm to someone, you are now in dept to them and I live by that. I also believe you must get their forgiveness and pay them back double. Of course I'm talking about monetary damages, nothing to do with death or lives. We need to look into ourselves and look into our beliefs. We definitely need a punishment system, a way to pay back those we harm, and a way pay back our community.

Mark Tomlin of PA 8:00PM November 12, 2009