Tuesday, October 16, 2007

185 to 1

Apparently we're the only nation in the world that issues life-without-parole sentences to 13- and 14-year olds. I'm not necessarily concerned about that lone-wolf status in and of itself -- as the article mentions, our legal system is different than others around the world in many ways. As with a certain group of child molesters, I'm certain there are some young teenage murderers who are utterly beyond hope of rehabilitation, given our current tools and understanding. But I've got a real Eighth Amendment problem with the 19 kids (26% of 73 convicts) who are currently serving life-without-parole for felony murder first offenses, based on mandatory adult sentencing laws. That said, the US Supreme Court should be able to address this as a US Constitutional issue without reference to international law, I would hope.

1 Comments:

Blogger ColumbusGuy said...

Of course, mandatory sentencing laws are part of the problem.

Maybe I'll start a non-profit (it wouldn't be my first), "Impeach One Judge." That'll clean up the judiciary much more efficiently than all the sentencing laws in the world.

3:49 AM, October 17, 2007  

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