Cites troubled childhood as excuse for crimes and wants alternatives to prison terms for kids so they'll have a chance to overcome 'mistakes' and join with society
I am sorry but I don’t buy a troubled childhood as a reason to reduce prison sentences or to avoid them altogether. This lady says that children’s brains are not developed enough for them to make sound judgments. I beg to differ with her. A 16 or 17-year-old, unless he has a severe mental disability, is quite capable of knowing the seriousness of the crime he is committing. That also applies to many children under 16. There are some crimes committed by children that do not merit any more mercy than they showed their victims.
And I am sick and tired of hearing a crime referred to as a ‘mistake.’ A mistake is hitting the wrong key on a keyboard, misspelling a word, making an error in a math calculation, unintentionally misidentifying someone, getting the wrong answer on a quiz, etc. The only mistake in a crime is when one thug starts to thump another thug and ends up getting the living shit kicked out of him. Or a criminal would say the only mistake he made was getting caught. A crime is a wrongful and willful act, not a mistake.
Her op-ed reminded me of a nutty psychologist who told a symposium at the University of Southern California that you should not chastise a juvenile car thief. She suggested that instead, the little fart be complimented for his ability to hotwire an automobile and encouraged to become a mechanic.
TEXAS NEEDS ALTERNATIVES TO PRISON TERMS FOR KIDS
Children need chance to overcome mistakes and join with society
By Linda White
Houston Chronicle
June 19, 2013
My daughter Cathy was killed by two 15-year-old boys more than 26 years ago. I know personally the grief of losing a child to violence.
I am also a retired professor with an interest in death, dying, grief and loss, and an advocate for the elimination of life without parole and other extreme sentences for children.
I believe children are more than the worst thing they have ever done. I also believe that our country is better when we seriously consider our responsibility to ensure that all children - even those who commit serious crimes - have an opportunity to thrive.
I was thrilled a year ago when the U.S. Supreme Court, in Miller v. Alabama, ruled that it is unconstitutional to impose a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole upon someone who was convicted for a crime committed when younger than 18.
Finally, it seemed, our country would reform the ways it holds young people accountable for the crimes they have committed.
Rather than a process based in retribution, I hoped we were moving toward a model focused on ensuring that we rehabilitate our children, then help to reintegrate them into society.
Twelve months later, there have been steps forward, as several states have eliminated life without parole for children from sentencing schemes.
But other states have continued to focus on punitive, reactive policies that ignore the spirit - and sometimes the letter - of this watershed decision. Rather than succumb to this short-sighted approach, we who believe in justice and fairness must work to ensure that children are held accountable in ways that acknowledge their capacity for change and focus on rehabilitation and reintegration into society.
Texas eliminated sentences of life without parole for children in 2009, and made life with the possibility of parole after 40 years the mandatory punishment for 14- to 16-year-olds.
The Legislature is considering a bill during the current special session that would also eliminate life without parole for 17-year-olds and replace it with the same penalty as faced by younger teens.
While this sentence represents an improvement over one in which a child is told he or she will die in prison, it is still extreme and inconsistent with what we know about children, brain development and the impact of trauma.
As any parent knows, children and teens often make bad decisions. This is because their brains are not yet fully developed and they lack the capacity to think through the long-term impacts of their actions. This is compounded for children who have been exposed to traumas such as abuse and neglect, which is the sad reality for many of the children who face these sentences. And in Texas, just as in most of America, black youth are disproportionately serving these extreme sentences.
Cathy died in November of 1986.
The boys arrested and charged in her death were certified to stand trial as adults. I didn't see them as humans at that time, and I was pleased when they both were sentenced to long terms in prison. I feel different today.
Twelve years ago, I met with one of the youths, Gary Brown, in a mediated dialogue.
I discovered a young man whose early life had been one of abuse and neglect, a world apart from that of my childhood and that of my children.
Though he offered no excuses for his actions, what he told me helped me to understand how he could have committed such a tragic deed and enabled me to place my daughter's murder in a larger context. His total remorse was an incredibly healing encounter for me.
Gary was released from prison in 2010 after serving 23 years of a 54-year sentence. He is a remarkably different person than he was as a teenager. He is proof that young people, even those who have done horrible things, can be transformed.
My experience with Gary has reminded me that we have a responsibility to protect our youth from the kind of childhood that he had and that we need to hold children accountable in ways that acknowledge their childhood, their inherent capacity for change, and their ability to make positive contributions to our world.
As Texas prepares to pass new legislation and as other states move forward toward Miller implementation, it is my prayer that we will operate with this in mind and implement meaningful alternatives to death-in-prison sentences for children that provide youth the opportunity to return home and become productive members of society.
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