Marjie Lundstrom wrote an article where Nathaniel Brazil, a middle school boy who shot his English teacher to death because he was not allowed to say goodbye to some girls, was sentenced to life in prison when the juvenile himself did not know the severity of his crime. Brazil was fourteen when he was sentenced to life yet his immaturity and failure to recognize risk and punishments was not taken into consideration. In 2012, the Supreme court ruled that juveniles who committed murder could not be sentenced to life in prison because it is considered cruel punishment, which is against the Eighth Amendment. Juveniles should be punished for their crimes but should not be sentenced to die in prison with no education or rehabilitation because they
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In Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life Sentences, by Gail Garinger, she states, “children [are] told that they [can] never change and that no one [cares] what [becomes] of them.” Being told that you are nothing and that you can’t do anything to become something other than an inmate in a jail cell is the epitome of lost hope. Garinger, also a former juvenile judge, has seen first hand the capacity that children have to change for the better. Since these juveniles are still very naive and adaptable they are great candidates for rehabilitation so they can be taught how to be productive and law-abiding citizens in society.
Some of these juveniles, along with psychological problems, also have the fact that they are losing gray matter in their brain, the part that supports thinking and emotion. IN Startling Finds on Teenage Brains, by Paul Thompson, he adds, “brain cells and connections are only being lost in the areas controlling impulses, risk taking, and self control.” This means that young people are trying to fight against their own body and still deal with their school, social and personal lives. Young people are being sentenced as adults when their underdeveloped brains and their actions are anything but adult
In Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life Sentences, by Gail Garinger, she states, “children [are] told that they [can] never change and that no one [cares] what [becomes] of them.” Being told that you are nothing and that you can’t do anything to become something other than an inmate in a jail cell is the epitome of lost hope. Garinger, also a former juvenile judge, has seen first hand the capacity that children have to change for the better. Since these juveniles are still very naive and adaptable they are great candidates for rehabilitation so they can be taught how to be productive and law-abiding citizens in society.
Some of these juveniles, along with psychological problems, also have the fact that they are losing gray matter in their brain, the part that supports thinking and emotion. IN Startling Finds on Teenage Brains, by Paul Thompson, he adds, “brain cells and connections are only being lost in the areas controlling impulses, risk taking, and self control.” This means that young people are trying to fight against their own body and still deal with their school, social and personal lives. Young people are being sentenced as adults when their underdeveloped brains and their actions are anything but adult