This child is named Trina, a sixteen year old girl who was charged with second degree murder and sentenced life in prison just as the rest. Trina had a rough life as a child, she was born into poverty and went to the worst ranked school in Pennsylvania. It didn't help that Trianas father was an alcoholic that was abusive who raped and assaulted both the mother and her. She was put into a program to help her with the psychiatric problems she faced. Trina decided to run away from her abusive dad.…
Alyssa and Arielle Scavo grew up in a world few little girls ever get to experience. They played and cheered on the sidelines of countless high school football games. They logged hours upon hours in baseball clubhouses, while also cheering on the sidelines for their school’s football. And they were in and out of training rooms where they occasionally had the chance to mingle with top-notch athletes who received care under their father's watchful eye.…
Overall I think my opinion is yes that he should have been tried as an adult. I know kids are kids and they have time to learn but in cases of kids killing people I think it's a different story. I would be more understanding about the situation if he had maybe stop beating the victim after he was already down and hurt but he continued to grab other items to kill the victim. If any child feels in danger and feels the need to fight back yes I think they should but not intentionally to kill them just enough to get away and ask for…
Genesis Gonzalez Professor Aiello October 20, 2015 Supreme Court Case Review Over a decade ago a crime was committed that would change the way minors are charged for heinous crimes. In 1993, at the age of seventeen, Christopher Simmons was charged with burglary, kidnapping, stealing, and murder all in the first degree at the state level. He had broken into and entered a woman's home, who he recognized from a previous encounter with the woman. Once realizing he had recognized her from a previous car accident, he decided that he would have to kill her. He then tied up his victim with duct tape and cables and threw her off a bridge.…
My Modern Hero “ My mission is to rescue. My hope is that one day I won't have to” I have chosen Tia Torres as my modern hero because of her determination and willingness to save those who need saving and help the misguided get back on track. Tia Torres famous not only because of her show Pitbulls and Parolees, or her rescue Villalobos but because of her love for misguided animals and people. Tia Torres came from a broken beginning, she lived with her stepmother who she always called mom and didn't have a father figure. Even in those times she still had the heart and strength to take in stray animals,whether it was a horse or a goat.…
Children are usually seen as innocent, as they play around with others and are just balls of energy. Often seen as simply kids who have no experience in the outside world until they grow older. However, sometimes a child’s play can go wrong and can affect another’s life. When these incidents happen where a death is involved, it’s often easy for society to look at the offender as a murder who should be in prison for the rest of their life despite what age the offender may be. While juveniles committing heinous crimes should be punished, they should also be given the chance to rejoin society at an appropriate age; therefore juveniles who redeem themselves should be able to get released earlier and be able to put their life together.…
Imagine growing up your whole life being around nothing but abuse and drugs and when you finally turned 16, you start being sex-trafficked by a pimp and getting drugged and raped by multiple different men. One day, a 43-year-old pedophile took you to his house for sex and you finally got the courage to fight back. Instead of you being placed in therapy for your brave act, you are imprisoned for life without parole until age 69. This is the story of Cyntoia Brown, a 16-year-old girl who shot, and killed her molester. Because of the sick world that we live in today, this young girl, who is a victim, wasn’t given the justice and therapy that she deserved.…
Often time when we think of children, we don’t think of them as being a capable of much, especially not murder. However, throughout history children have been convicted of committing some of the most heinous murders. “I killed because people like me are mistreated every day. I did this to show society ‘push us and we will push back!’ throughout my life I was ridiculed.…
For example Lionel Tate beat to death a six year old little girl. 14 year old, Joshua Smith, shot his mother to death as she slept on the couch. Fifteen year old Nehemiah Griego shot and killed his family. One kid murdered a wife and her husband as she begged for her life and the life of her unborn child as he shot her, one of the testifiers said he just wanted to know what it felt like to shoot someone. All these kids know the difference between hurting someone and killing someone.…
Philip Holloway wrote the article “Should 11-year-olds be charged with adult crimes?” for the Cable News Network on October 14, 2015. Holloway, a CNN Legal Analyst, discusses the case of an 11 year old boy who murdered an 8 year old girl for refusing to allow the boy to see her puppy. The author believes juveniles shouldn’t be tried as adults and also points out that placing them in adult prisons puts them in more danger. Holloway suggests…
Children ranging from the ages of thirteen and up have been tried in court as adults and are faced with harsh sentences to die in prison without the slightest consideration of their circumstances and age for the offense penalized against them. Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the majority, determined that “requiring that all children convicted of homicide receive lifetime incarceration without possibility of parole, regardless of their age and age-related characteristics and the nature of their crimes” is a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment (Cost of Mass Incarceration). According to Stevenson, “The U.S. is also the only country with life sentences without parole for 13 year-olds…. kids don’t have the judgment, the maturity, the impulse control and insight necessary to make complicated lifelong decisions. They can’t make the same kind of long-term judgments.…
Too Young or Just Right? Through history, the way society has dealt with consequences to previous unjust actions have evolved over the years, especially with children. In the 18th century kids were being sent to jail or killed for innocent crimes. Cyriaque Lamar, an expert on this time period states “During the Victorian era kinds as young as 11 received adult sentences for minor crimes”.…
When news media outlets report about violent crimes throughout the nation, many people have become de-sensitized to the fact that violence has become a part of everyday life. But how do people feel when a child escalates to a level of unthinkable violence? In August of 1993, Eric Smith was accused, tried, and convicted for the murder of 4 year old Derrick Robie. The community of Steuben County, New York were in shock and disgusted but were unaware that Eric Smith, who was 13 at the time, committed this heinous crime.…
Most domestic jurisdictions have a juvenile justice system in place to prosecute children. For instance, in 2000, the DRC executed a fourteen year-old child soldier and, in 2001, another four aged between fourteen and sixteen were condemned to death. Another interesting case is the situation in Rwanda, where children were accused of committing genocide.82. Recently, in the DRC a fifteen year-old was accused of rape. In 2002, two former child soldiers 14 and 16 years were accused of treason in Uganda.…
While the “criminal is a child” approach to the juvenile justice system is appealing due to its forgiving nature and emphasis on rehabilitation rather than punishment, there are some cases in which this decision is not so cut-and-dry. One of these instances of a legal “gray area” is the case of Marin Sinzer, who was charged for the murder of Tammy Shevin, 25 years after the crime was committed. The now 38 year old is petitioning to be tried as a juvenile, since he was only 13 at the time of the crime, a year younger than the waiver age at the time. While many proponents of the “criminal is a child” approach take that stance because of the physical and psychological dangers posed to juveniles who are placed in adult prisons, in this unique…