I'm not saying that a kid who commits a crime is free from responsibility, but sentencing that kid to 25-life is not justice. Whatever you guys may think, the medicine backs me up. Feel free to research it yourself. I have years of clinical experience and training, much of it with teens. It is easy to say now that teens have or don't have certain abilities, many times they do a good job of acting like adults but if you scratch the surface you might see what is really going on. Everything is much bigger and more dramatic for a teen. Small problems are the end of the world; even if the kid won't admit, what we adults see as minor problems cause much more emotional and physical distress on a teen. The prefrontal cortex isn't developed yet, but they are beginning to mature and understand the world at large; without the mechanisms in place to mediate and reduce the discomfort and distress from this flood of exposure they don't have the ability to comprehend the gravity and depth of the most severe consequences to their actions.
As much as you may scoff, you too went through this process. Because of your parents, your social support, your environment or other factors you, like most kids, made it through this trying time just fine. However, in rare circumstances, the right combination of factors come together with tragic results. My point is that while it is important that someone this young be punished for his actions, his mind is still forming and locking him up for life is not justice, it's vengeance. Kids like this need help, not to be locked away until they are 40. A sentence like that grantees that when he does get out of prison he will be completely incapable of functioning in society.
Good crap, I thought I was supposed to be the Evil hardass around here.
As much as you may scoff, you too went through this process. Because of your parents, your social support, your environment or other factors you, like most kids, made it through this trying time just fine. However, in rare circumstances, the right combination of factors come together with tragic results. My point is that while it is important that someone this young be punished for his actions, his mind is still forming and locking him up for life is not justice, it's vengeance. Kids like this need help, not to be locked away until they are 40. A sentence like that grantees that when he does get out of prison he will be completely incapable of functioning in society.
Good crap, I thought I was supposed to be the Evil hardass around here.