Do you think Joshua Henninger 16 should be tried as an adult?

www.filipinoreporter.com...

Missing teen found dead and burned

Annamarie Cruz Randazzo was kidnapped, beaten, and severly burned in an abondened fridge. She was also eight weeks pregnant at the time of death.

Police say the suspects — Joshua Henninger, a 16-year-old acquaintance of Randazzo’s, and Jeremy Lee Chapman, 23 — have confessed to the murder. .... According to sources close to the investigation, Chapman and Henninger wanted to kill someone .......

Prosecutors will have until Aug. 26 to decide whether to charge Henninger as an adult. They will base their decision on two things: the harshness of the crime and his criminal record, which is rather lengthy.

Personally I think he should be. Not only was the crime very violent, but also it was done just because he just wanted to kill someone. I believe this sets an extremely dangerous precident, which needs to be dealt with harshly before he decides to kill again. Also he needs some serious psychological counsiling. He may also have thought he could get away with the lighter juvenile sentence if he got caught, which somehow could have made the murder ok in his twisted mind.

Do you think Joshua Henninger should be tried as an adult for such a violent crime? Why or why not?

Sounds like a brutal murder, not a youthful indiscretion, so I also support trying as an adult.

Yes, I would also agree he should be treated as an adult for this. I have always questioned why murder seems to have an age difference. I do not necessarily believe in putting a child to death as you might an adult but to have a mind that would want to kill at such a young age is a very disturbing trait. One that I think will only stay with the child in adulthood.

Yes, he must be held to the standards of an adult under these circumstances. Furthermore, adults should be held to an even stricter standard when it comes to murder and rape. The death penelty should be mandatory when proven guilty, with one appeal case and the sentence should be carried out within 18 months of the appeal.

Since this 16 year old did commit a very violent and sadistic crime, he should most definitely be tried as an adult. In some states if a juvenile commits an adult crime, they are tried as an adult but are locked up in a juvenile center until they are 18. in cases like that it should be a direct admit to jail, no juvenile detention center for commiting crime like that.

Originally posted by JoshGator54
Yes, he must be held to the standards of an adult under these circumstances. Furthermore, adults should be held to an even stricter standard when it comes to murder and rape. The death penelty should be mandatory when proven guilty, with one appeal case and the sentence should be carried out within 18 months of the appeal.

What happens if an inmate turns out to be innocent? I'm very hesitant to support such a black and white resolution, as every crime is different. Murder can include many facets.

Back to the topic. On the one hand, it's a violent and heinous crime of the worst degree....and as such, it needs to be dealt with appropriately.

On the other hand...

It seems that he's had serious mental problems (no kidding) since he was 11. Is this a factor? Should it be considered?

Also...at 16, though I thought I knew everything, I was really pretty clueless. Did he really understand the ramifications?

Tinkleflower if he didn't understand the ramifications, then he needs to be seriously locked up in a mental home. Exactly what is so hard to understand that killing = death = serious punishment/prision.

More than likely he thought the ramification was juvie hall and he would get away almost scott free. With these kids having attitudes like that, then there needs to be much more of a serious punishment such as tried as an adult.

If he didn't understand it was wrong to kill, then a more serious quesiton needs to be asked. Why didn't he think it was wrong to kill? Why did he want to just kill someone? Why wasen't he told it was wrong and the ramifications behind it? Did he watch to many violent tv shows and movies? Did he play violent games alot?

Even if he did, it is still not an excuse for him to be let off easy.

Update:

www.local6.com...

Jeremy Chapman, 23, and Joshua Henninger, 17, of Cape Coral, were charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, sexual battery with a deadly weapon or great force, and arson of a vehicle, said Randall McGruther, chief assistant state attorney.....Henninger will not be eligible for the death penalty because of his age, McGruther said.

It seems like Joshua Henninger just turned 17 during this ordeal. It sounds like he was tried as an adult. Hopefully trying older kids as an adult for hanieous crimes will stop or make others think twice before trying get away with a crime just because they are under 18.

Originally posted by Mystery_Lady
Tinkleflower if he didn't understand the ramifications, then he needs to be seriously locked up in a mental home. Exactly what is so hard to understand that killing = death = serious punishment/prision.

How many 16 year olds do you know who really understand every possible consequence of their actions? Applying that logic would mean every pregnant 16 year old might also need the same mental home requirement, you know? I remember being 16 and thinking I knew it all. But realistically, I had no real understanding of many adult situations, even though bravado suggested otherwise. Sure, we know murder is wrong, and yet we see people in the media getting away with murder (literally) - we're teaching our kids that there's no consistency in our judicial system, which further muddies the waters.

More than likely he thought the ramification was juvie hall and he would get away almost scott free. With these kids having attitudes like that, then there needs to be much more of a serious punishment such as tried as an adult.

Do we know this kid had such an attitude?

Even if he did, it is still not an excuse for him to be let off easy.

I do think mental status and a history of mental illness etc should be taken into account. It's absolutely relevent.

I'd probably go with either a life sentence, or LWOP. I'm honestly hesitant to support the latter, as it'd be setting an unusual (and potentially dangerous) precedent in these teen killer cases. I keep remembering the Bulger case, where the killers were 11 and 10 respectively, and were released when they reached 18 or 21 (I forget offhand which it was), and honestly wondering if they represented a risk as adults.

Again, I fully acknowledge the severity and horror of this crime and yes, I suppose I'm supporting the matter of him being tried as an adult - I'd just hate to see this become an automatic response. Teen kills, automatically gets LWOP or death penalty. That, to me, is frightening.

Also, the notion of other teens being "put off" from killing isn't likely, even if the subject here was given the death penalty; if some of this group don't understand the consequences fully, they're even less likely to be disuaded by someone else (ie, "It won't happen to me") receiving a harsh punishment.

yeah he should deffinetly be tried as an adult me and josh n jeremy used to hang out all the time but i never thought he would do something like that but jeremy was always kinda weird when things didnt go his way or he got mad or drunk he would get very violent but josh just seemed like a normal teenager but before they murdered her he talked about her but he never said he didnt like her they used to date n before they did that my friend told me josh & jeremy raped her before and she never told. but when i comfronted josh & jeremy they both told me that she was sluty and that she was on drugs and she let them, but i dont think she let them.but yes, josh should be locked up for life and charged as an adult..........once a killer always a killer

Under English Common Law as imported into the US since 1607, children were tried for their crimes and no regard or distinction was paid to their “tender” years. Penal reform was tried in the 19th century first in Pennsylvania. Even the name was changed from “prison” to “reformatory.”

The lot of the poisoner has always been hard - say harsh. Too many people in our society have a mean streak, nay, a cruel streak. I’ve read you can tell a lot about a society by how it treats its miscreants. If that be true, then America would be one place I'd want to avoid on a world tour.

Sometime in the early 20th century the concept of treating young people accused of crimes differently from mature adults became popular. Usually age of 16 was chosen to delineate between minority status and majority status. Age wise. Unfortunately for that well intended concept, it seems our youth are committing more heinous crimes at earlier ages which confounds us adults.

The Federal government - to its credit - does not have a juvenile law but it does have a “youthful offender” provision that uses 26 ½ as the cut-off age. This is no “free ride” law, and it only applies to first offenders. It does allow the Judge, or now more often, a Magistrate, to give reduced sentences including probation, to offenders where the psychological evaluation reports indicate this approach will be as beneficial to the offender as to society. As I said above, this is no “free pass” law.

Maturity is the key word or operative word in all age related provisions. Now it becomes esoteric. A battle of the experts. How mature to you have to be? How do you measure maturity? Does murder require (or is it indicate?) more or less maturity than say, car theft? Just what is maturity, any how? Isn’t it really all about protecting society? How much protection does society need or require in each case? Or can it afford? Ugh, what started out as simple suddenly becomes complex. It is obvious that while “one size fits all” may apply to socks, it is not applicable to people.

In Ky where I have a small amount of experience, new prisoners are first held 30 days in an evaluation and indoctrination center. This protects the prison from communicable diseases, too. After the Interview the prisoner is classified based on physical size, propensity for violence, mental acuity, emotional health, age and gender orientation. Prisoners are then placed with other prisoners of like kind.

Most state juvenile laws have been modified in the past 20 years to allow for holding a juvenile in confinement well past the former mandatory release day of the 18th birthday. Ky allows a consenting juvenile prisoner to be held up to his 24th birthday. Six extra years. If the person does not consent to this provision , then he will be tried as an adult, and at 18, be moved from a juvenile facility into the adult prision system to finish his sentence. This provision is only available if offered by the prosecutor. I expect most states have similar rules and practices today.

No matter how much we tinker with the rules and laws, we will never get it fixed in 100% of the cases. I don’t know what crime this person committed - aggravated murder I think - but it is not too important to what I posted. That would not change anything I have said above.


There are many serious issues America needs to address about prisons and prisoners, how they are operated and what goals they are expected to achieve. Although I once worshiped at the “Trial by Jury” altar, after watching that for a lifetime, I am now convinced the Napoleonic Code’s Inquisitorial System is the better one, at least for trying crimes. But that’s for another thread.


[edit on 8/11/2006 by donwhite]

This is an OLD THREAD.

But just to bring everyone up to date:

Henninger will be tried as an adult, but if guilty, dodges a lethal injection because of his age.

Source - July 21, 2006

Original Story - Aug. 2005

posted by Benevolent Heretic
This is an OLD THREAD:

But just to bring everyone up to date:

Henninger will be tried as an adult, but if guilty, dodges a lethal injection because of his age.

My excuse: this was posted before I joined ATS.

I have always been an anti DP person. Gov. Ryan and the Illinois DP project by Northwestern U strongly bolstered me and that position.


[edit on 8/11/2006 by donwhite]