Imprisonment and detention

In January 1969 a 16-year old boy took a trip across Canada with a few friends. While their time in Saskatoon a 20-year old nursing student Gail Miller was found dead in a snow bank. Mr. Milgaard’s friends turned against him as soon as they heard that there was a reward being offered to whoever turns the killer in. They found false evidence which got Milgaard convicted for life on something he did not even do. Mr. Milgaard was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life in prison in a false…

Time after time, generation after generation, there have always existed criminals. Burglars, drug dealers, captors, etc., but perhaps the most unforgivable of convicts are murderers. They "kill for the thrill", yet even more shocking is when the face behind the killer is that of an adolescent. What drives a child, who is still dependent on their parents for basic necessities, to kill another being? Whatever the reason may be, the consequences should be dire. After all, they did commit an…

Juvenile Justice The topic of whether or not juveniles who commit murder should be tried as adults and given life sentences has always been controversial. The country is divided in half when it comes to this topic. In the United States, about 2500 individuals are serving life sentences without parole for crimes they committed when they were adolescents. This only involves the states who do allow juveniles to serve life sentences. Sixteen states in the US banned life sentences without…

whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, because he knew he was never getting out. He said himself, “How am I going to get in trouble? I’m here for 1,200 years!” The older brother of Jeremy Richardson, Charles, shares the same perspective of life imprisonment. Charles had described Jeremy as a good kid, the golden boy, his best friend. He believes that the killer, Jason Burkett, should be lying on the gurney next to Perry in order to truly pay for his crimes. Lisa Stotler Ballou, daughter and…

Eye on Diversity: Social Construction of Delinquency “Me facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story” is a documentary about a little girl sentenced to life for a murder that she committed when she was sixteen years old. At a young age Cyntoia’s biological mother gave her to a foster mother and father. Growing up she was always being judged by her mother, she wanted her to grow up being perfect like her sister with no problems. She was abused by her father and was then introduced to prostitution as a get away…

penance, as in where the accused would be sentenced to certain punishments. These public occurings were more and more common over time. If still alive and could function properly and had refused the penances, he or she would be sentenced to life imprisonment, or would be sentenced to death by means of being burned at the…

Rob Baker’s Jimmy Santiago Baca: Poetry as a Lifesaver (Baker 858), writes an interesting story of Chicano poet Jimmy Santiago Baca (who goes by Baca in the story), and the amazing account of a young man’s start at life at the very bottom of society’s ladder, through his many trials and tribulations throughout childhood to his inevitable incarceration in the state’s prison system. Baker takes it one step further in his story as he provides a glimpse of not only the hell this young man must…

teenage brains are not yet fully developed, affecting the way a juvenile acts, thinks, and feels. It can have an affect on the actions a juvenile males, it can make them more likely to take risks than adults. During their teenage years, some people have not yet developed their morals. It is a time when they may start to. A child has not had enough time to develop their morals and fully distinguish right from wrong. They might have just been at the wrong place at the wrong time and git themselves…

Rubin “Hurricane” Carter and Nelson Mandela were both two powerful black leaders who were both sentenced to prison for innocent reasons. Carter and Mandela both fought for the inequality around the world, but yet were from different sides of the world. Carter was from the United States of America, and Mandela was from South Africa. Although these two men were both in prison, it does not mean they were terrible men, however, they actually made the world a better place with their prestige and…

Laci Peterson was eight months pregnant when her husband Scott Peterson reported her missing in December. It was not until April that her husband was arrested and held for two counts of murder. It was rumored that Mr. Peterson was having an affair with his massage therapist. Attorneys mentioned that it was a possibility that Laci was kidnapped and murdered by a satanic cult. Investigators do not believe this theory. Laci’s body was mutilated. She was strangled and had four cement blocks tied to…