Lifers as Teenagers, Now Seeking Second Chance

Lifers as Teenagers, Now Seeking Second Chance

www.nytimes.com

In December, the United Nations took up a resolution calling for the abolition of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for children and young teenagers. The vote was 185 to 1, with the United States the lone dissenter.

Indeed, the United States stands alone in the world in convicting young adolescents as adults and sentencing them to live out their lives in prison. According to a new report, there are 73 Americans serving such sentences for crimes they committed at 13 or 14.

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Out of 185 nations at the U.N., the US is the ONLY country who feels that people who are underage and commit murder should spend the rest of their life in prison with NO chance of parole.

Is it because we respect the gift of life more than other nations? Or because we have less mercy for these underage offenders?

It seems like the US is drifting further and further away from how the rest of the world feels about a lot of subjects these days.

Is it the US that is changing, or the rest of the world?

I personally feel that these underage offenders shouldn't be given life with NO chance for parole.

www.nytimes.com
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I'm not sure what the reason is, but personally I feel that offenders should at least have a chance at parole, even if it is incredibly small. Some people really do reform themselves in prison (though most fake it) and deserve a second chance. I live in Canada, and our maximum sentence is 25-Life, which means that you have a life sentence and cannot be eligible for parole for a minimum of 25 years. We don't have the death penalty.

I can respect that justice needs to be served, but also consider that if a teenager spends the rest of their natural life in jail without parole, then they are a burden on taxpayers, and they don't even have the chance to accomplish anything useful with their lives in prison. After a certain point, the death sentence seems more merciful than, say, five decades in a cell.

I don't think minors should be tried as adults at all. We don't treat them as adults... they can't vote, buy alcohol, or porn. Seems quite hypocritical to deem them adult in only one aspect. Which just so happens to be the most influential one.

Kids are idiots. I know I was. I probably spent more time in the back of a police car than I did in English class. Kids lack one crucial element to sound lifelong decision making: experience. They don't think about tomorrow, next week, next year. They just think about now.

Lacking this perspective, all too often they make rash decisions that result in serious consequences. Being too young to truly understand the impact of these consequences, they don't take them into consideration and act purely on emotion. When an adult does this, they know better. Kids don't.