mimo2005

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.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/17/us/17teenage.html

bry623

What is the alternative??

cstr20cstr

Slap their hands and let them back on the street to commit more murders and crimes of course.

Gotta remember, just a few years ago, it was the "all wise" UN that tried outlawing parents from spanking their children.

kinbard

Might not be against the law, but do it in public and more than likely you will make the news by nightfall...

Nik00117

I agree with the UN, 15-20 years is even a bit much.

kinbard

Do you have children?

Tumbleweed36

Let me understqnd what you are saying here. Say you have a brother, a sister and a mother and father. Some 17 year old punk came in and raped the females and then tortured and killed all of them.....you think that 15-20 years is enough or a bit much??????? surely you don't mean that.

Nik00117

Actually I do, i'd say a punishment of 5-10 years should get the message across.

Maybe he was a bit unstable at 17 whose to say he couldn't be a productive member of society at 27 or maybe 22.

IAmNutsAboutPCs

If a kid kills a kid... they should get life imprisonment like the rest of 'em.

End of story.

Tumbleweed36

Your answer just astounds me. I just find it difficult to believe you have that opinion and don't value the life of your loved ones as much as you do some teenage punk. That is my opinion. Oh well, have a great evening.

mimo2005

185 countries seems to see something that we can NOT see , or 185 countries does NOT see what we see .

Nik00117

O I value the life of my loved ones very much so. But why ruin someone elses life for good because I no longer have them. Even for murder in germany 15-20 years is typically the max, our crime rate is fairly low and the ammount of crimials that return are far lower then america stastically speaking. We have our expections and so forth however we've seem to be able to actualyl reform our poeple.

Now yes there are poeple who cannot be reformed but I think its in line to give em a 2nd chance. Maybe they will make it out and be succesful maybe not you can't tell.

if someone were tonight to kill my ENTIRE faimly o i'd be extermely upset, I might even kill the person in question myself. But after i've come to my senses and start thinking of his state of mind, and so forth and understanding that he was a young adult not fully matured and may not have 100% comphered or understood what he was doing then why should his life be completely utterly destoryed. I would say give him 5 to 10 years in prison for the crime and lets move on to bigger and better things.

185 countries can't be wrong, they have to have something right here.

I am fully aware that my answer astounds you for you apparently do not have the ability set yourself in the shoes of that "teenage punk"

If anything our long prison setances I believe is what creates what I call hybird crimials.

Perfect example, I saw a movie which very clearly bought out this point. This man got into selling and dealing weed he naturally progressed however he wasn't very successful at this progression. Eventually years after he started his business and was making a nice living he got busted.

He went to prison, and he reeducated himself. He thought of what he did wrong, of how he could of gotten away with it and he made new connections. So he then became a coke dealer. And let me telly ou he was SUCCESFUL at it, extremely skilled and knowledgeable he knew what he was doing.

Had he not been in prison so long he wouldn't of obtained the educated in which he did in prison and may not have gone back to trafficing drugs on a higher plain.

I think proper punishment would be required for this "teenage punk" however life seteance is TOO MUCH.

Also just some math, it costs roughly 36k a year to house and feed a immate.

So if this teenage punk was 17 at the time he commited the crime, and died at age lets say o 75 the typical age to die at he'd of been in prison 58 years and would of cost the tax payers over 2 million USD, and i'm sure as he is in prison the cost of running it, and housing him and handling his medical care would increase so 2 million USD is most liekly on the low end, however to house the same prisonor for only lets say 5 to 10 years would cost about 180-360k not onl that he would still be a young adult at the time of his relese could recover from this and then pay into the pool as a productive citizen, you can't say its impossible.

EnglishPaul

I agree with that.
I find it quite amazing that the quick consensus of Americans here are able to write off a criminal for life. If the feeling is so strong that society must be protected from such people and that rehabilitation is futile, then it is more humane to kill them. But not in the inhuman 'death row' way, but a swift execution with just enough time for 1 appeal.

But these are children. Not nice children, but children none the less. I doubt a normal prison would be of much use, as it is a good training ground for all things bad. But children need education. This needn't be an easy option, as education works to point out the consequences of their bad actions. And there is much to face up to. But write them off for good and you may as well kill them.

Nik00117

I agree with Paul, 100%

Drew1369

I like this idea alot... save us a bundle on housing convicts every year

EnglishPaul

And if you cremated them, you could also power a small village!

Drew1369

yustr

Another point here is that we've arbitrarily set 18 as the age someone becomes an adult for most things - voting, entering into contracts, getting into debt, working past 11:00 PM. Its as if something magical happens that throws a switch in the adolescent brain that says "You're now responsible for your actions."

But before that magic happens he's not responsible enough to buy a cell phone or a cigar or a Penthouse magazine but he is responsible enough to be tried as an adult and put away for life! Aren't we being hypocritical? Or paranoid? Or both?

Everyone matures on a different time line. Yes, murder and rape are wrong. I'm not saying anyone has the right to get away with those horrific crimes. But as a society we've set 18 as coming of age - for everything except some crimes. We've decided that there is clearly something inherently different between someone at 17 and someone at 18 or 22 or 40. We should be consistent and have different rules and different prisons, different methods, and different criteria for those who were too young to make adult decisions.

Nik00117

I can speak from experience not much changes from 17 to 18 besides the fact that if you screw up its your fault and not your parents.

I don't classify an adult as someone as 18 years old. An adult is someone is responsible in their actions, and is able to fully support themselves. Not many 18 years old can do that, I know I can't.

Internetdude99

185 and countries. Most of them are smaller than the state of Oregon.

They are smaller, and thus their crime pool (The "pool" of citizens capable or lead to capability of commiting crimes) is smaller than ours.

Do that math.

If a country's population consist of 2% criminals but your population is only 250,000 citizens. Thats only 12,500 criminals. Out of which how many are capable of murder or in murderous situation, lets say 3-5% (375-625) and out of that many home many actually commit the act(regardless of whether or not they get away with it) say 10% (Pretty high) brings us to 37.5-62.5 murders. Out of them how many are under 18?

Now in the states is completely different. Not only because of number because of culture. We're not Japanese, were not British, sure as hell are not french. Things like murder and rape come up a little bit more in our country.

Does that make us evil gun touting cowboy gangster robotic samurais? NO. If you think it does, don't blame us, blame our forefathers. They gave us these rights with their blood. It took this long for technology and populations to really make issues like this matter and now, NOW you expect our goverment to radically change the fundamentals of our country, despite how flawed they may or may not be. Ridiculous.

I if your 16 and you kill someone, at 66 you can be release from sale. Just old enough to be mostly harmless and docile.

To kill someone is a momentous event. Think about that. Thought, action, conception, pregancy, birth, and what proceeds. Killing is nothing to be taken lightly.

Aiigh home slices. Have a WONDERFUL day.