Juvenile Justice Accountability and Improvement Act

28. August 2008 by Rev Young.

OR HR 4300…..

We are excited to report that on September 11, 2008 the House Judiciary Committee subcommittee on crime and terrorism will hold an information hearing on HR 4300.  This is a first step in the process of moving this legislation through our government processes.  For those of you that would like more information on this legislation or would like to read the language of the bill, please go to www.hr4300.com.

This will give youth offenders who are serving Life Without the Opportunity For Parole (LWOP) the chance to see a parole board once in 15 years and every three years after that.  This doesn’t mean that we will let all of them out wholesale.  This does not mean that everyone of the offenders will receive the benefit of parole.  What it DOES mean is that they will be given a chance….a second chance….to make something of their lives…..to give back to their communities……that’s all they ask. 

A chance.

Please got to www.house.govand click on the tab marked “Representatives”.  Find the Representatives for your state and then for your district.  Send them a short e-mail encouraging them to hear and support Representatives Scott and Conyers in their effort to reform our Juvenile Justice legislation.

How long do we want the notoriety of being the only nation in the world that sentences it’s children to die in prison? 

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Juvenile Justice in the Rest of The World

20. August 2008 by Rev Young.

I am going to attempt to get you to read and digest statistics from various parts of the world concerning crime, sentencing, juvenile offences and more.  I know that it is not very entertaining to look at numbers but with each set of information I am going to try and point out some very interesting details. 
I know that “we are not other nations”.  I know that “we don’t want anyone else telling us how to run our country”.  I know that we have it all figured out and we do the best job!  HA! 

Before we begin, I want you to look at your local newspaper, turn on the news, look outside your door and be reminded of our current state of affairs.  Is it possible that someone else might have a better idea?

Take a look at the statistics for Australia.  What have they done to see a significant decline in the number of juveniles in corrections facilities?  I can tell you what they did for a time and what they have changed.  They did try youth as adults and incarcerate them in adult facilities.  However, since they have adopted the Convention on The Rights of a Child and re-adjusted their prosecution and incarceration policies, that has stopped. Look below.

Australia:

Persons in juvenile corrective institutions, 1981-2006 (rate per 100,000 relevant population)

Source: Taylor N 2007. Juveniles in detention in Australia, 1981-2006. Technical and background paper no. 26. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tbp/tbp026/

***The following information is taken from the very thorough report from Germany.  I have included comments on the issue of adult offenders as well as comments concerning juvenile offenders. 

Press release No. 299 / 2008-08-20

Number of prisoners further on the decrease

WIESBADEN – As reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), nearly 75,200 prisoners served a sentence in German penal institutions or were only temporarily absent (for example due to leave from retention) on 30 November 2007. Hence, the rate of detention per 100,000 registered inhabitants was 91 in Germany. In 2000, the rate of detention for Germany was still 98. Since then, that rate has been on the decrease, as is also the case with absolute figures. The decrease is primarily due to the trend observed for detainees awaiting trial. Between 2000 and 2007, the number of detainees awaiting trial decreased by 31% (from 18,300 to 12,600), mainly because of different measures taken to avoid detention.

CONCERNING ADULT OFFENDERS: “If the accused is sentenced to a prison sentence of up to two years, execution of the sentence can be suspended and the convicted person put on probation. In a period of probation to be determined by the court, the person sentenced should demonstrate that being sentenced was itself sufficient warning and that he will not commit any further crimes. At the same time, as the punishment is suspended, the negative effects of confinement are avoided, e.g. that the individual is torn away from his previous life, work and social contacts.  In combination with suspending the sentence and imposing a period of probation, the court can impose conditions on the person sentenced (e.g. a fine) or issue instructions affecting his conduct, e.g. he can be placed under the supervision of a probation officer for the period of probation.”

“Similarly, the remainder of a sentence to life imprisonment can be suspended and probation imposed once 15 years have been served, if the particular gravity of the convicted offender’s guilt does not necessitate his remaining in prison, and if the prognosis is favourable and the prisoner agrees.”

JUVENILE OFFENDERS

“In the case of juvenile offenders (14 - 17 years inclusive) and young adults (18 - 20 years inclusive) convicted under juvenile criminal law the criminal justice system aims to educate the offender and provides for special sanctions: firstly, educative and disciplinary measures and, secondly, youth imprisonment with the possibility of suspension and probation. The imposition of additional legal consequences and measures to reform the offender and protect the public is only possible to a limited extent. A young adult offender is required to be processed under juvenile criminal law if he is like a juvenile in terms of his development or if the offence was a transgression of a juvenile nature.”

“Youth imprisonment is the only real criminal punishment available under the Act on Juvenile Courts. There are differences compared with adult imprisonment rules. The length of 36 Sentencing, penal sanctions the period is limited to between six months and ten years. The judge imposes youth imprisonment when the criminal tendencies of the juvenile, which have become apparent as a result of his crime, indicate that educative or disciplinary measures will not suffice to reform the offender or when punishment is needed because of the seriousness of the offence. If it is not possible to ascertain with certainty during the main proceedings whether the criminal tendencies of the offender are such that youth imprisonment is actually needed, the judge will only pronounce the guilt of the juvenile. The decision as to whether a sentence to youth imprisonment should be imposed is suspended for a certain probationary period.”

I find it very interesting that the country accused of some of the worst human rights violations and the instigator in two world wars, has found that rehabilitation, treatment and restoration are the keys to a productive society.

***The last country I will profile is Bulgaria.  I selected this country because it is an eastern block country which faces many different social issues than we face, as you will see in some of their definitions and consequences.  I also chose this country because it provides clear information and statistics.  See Below: 

The Local commissions for prevention of juvenile delinquency is competent authority which organize and coordinate the preventive social activities on the territory of the municipality, trace and ascertain, together with the inspectors at the child pedagogic rooms and directorates “Social support”, the minors who need aid, and take measures for their social protection and development; consider the acts, impose the educational measures, extend proposals to the court for imposing educational measures; enact the measures and exercise control over their fulfillment; assist parents encountering difficulties in bringing up their children; exercise control over the child pedagogic rooms, social-pedagogic boarding schools, asylums, correctional boarding-schools, correctional facilities, and facilities for temporal placement of minors on the territory of the municipality, and over the activities of the guardians of the minors; study the condition of the minors and the reasons for their anti-social acts and advance suggestions before the respective state bodies and social organizations and other.

Child pedagogic rooms are special institutions which are responsible for tracing and finding out minor offenders and the reasons and conditions for their anti-social acts or crimes; tracing and finding out minors who are subject of criminal encroachment, maltreatment, or have been left uncontrolled; taking the appropriate measures or notifying the competent bodies; notifying the bodies of prosecution in case they receive information about criminal conduct in relation to minors by the parents, the persons substituting for them, or third parties; to observe the fulfillment by the minor or the inflicted measures.

Social-pedagogic boarding schools are special institutions where placed minors aged over 8 years and juvenile when they have committed anti-social acts or there are prerequisites for committing such acts.

Correctional boarding schools are special institutions where placed minors aged over 8 years and juvenile if they have committed anti-social acts in relation to which the correctional measures referred to in art. 13, para 1, item 1-10 and 12 have proved insufficient and there is no appropriate social environment for the normal upbringing of these minors. 

An anti-social act is an act which is publicly dangerous and against the law or contradicts the morality and good manners.

The educational measure is an alternative of the punishment of measure for educational effect as regards a minor or underage, having committed an anti-social act, and an underage released from penal liability under Article 61 of the Penal Code, and which is inflicted for the purpose of overcoming the deviations in the conduct, prevention of future offence and integration in the society. 

9 635 educative measures were inflicted on 7 492 minors and juveniles for committed different crimes and anti-social acts (against 10 511 educative measures and 8 107 persons in 2006). The educative measure of ‘warning’ was imposed to the highest number of persons - 3 856, followed by the measure ‘put under educative surveillance on behalf of public supervisor’ - on 1 859 persons, and ‘put under educational care of parents or the persons replacing them with the obligation of intensive care’ - on 1 301 minors and juveniles. The educative measure ‘proposal for settlement in correctional boarding schools with term of probation up to 6 months’ was inflicted on 560 minors and juveniles, ’settlement in social-pedagogic boarding school’ on 127 and ’settlement in correctional boarding school’ on 97 minors and juveniles

***Okay one more country.  The Republic of Croatia a small country in western Europe which declared its independance from communist Yugoslavia in 1991. 

Of the 2830 Juvenile perpetrators of criminal offenses, 12 went to juvenile prison, 58 were suspended from juvenile prison and 904 were sentenced to educative measures.  You will find that most are fined and receive suspended sentences or educative measures.  In a small country that was devastated by war in the Balkans in the 1990’s! 

I have not viewed all the statistics for every country, however there is a strong pattern in all of the statistics that I have viewed.  Most countries do not incarcerate ANY persons for long periods of time.  Life sentences can almost always be overturned after a minimal amount of time when the offender shows rehabilitation.  All countries viewed have educational reform as the number one “punishment” for juvenile offenders.  Rehabilitation, reform, restorative justice, education and success are their models for taking offenders and transforming them into productive citizens.  Why are we so different?  Why are we so focused on incarceration?  Why are we satisfied with paying the ticket for offenders instead of requiring they become contributors to our coutry?  If we are truly the wealthiest nation in the world, is it because we can afford to pay for it so we do not look for other options?  Is it because we have something to gain by filling prisons and we care nothing about the loss of human dignity?  That is the next blog.  In the mean time, go to the link below and click on statistics by country.  Do a little research for yourself. 

 http://www.juvenilejusticepanel.org/en/sbc.html

 Thank you, Michelle, for providing the link and the information. 

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JJR-101 Education Part 2

6. August 2008 by Rev Young.

Now to continue with education.  If, as stated in my last post, we cannot adequately meet the needs of someone with an obvious disability, how can we even see the need of other children?

The answer……we don’t.  Although there are many children that have been diagnosed as ADD, ADHD, Dyslexia and other autism spectrum disorders, we do little more than medicate them and hope for the best.

Let’s take a look at that from a child’s point of view.  You are in 6th grade.  You have just entered junior high school.  You are having trouble with your school work, you are falling behind, the teacher looks at you as a problem and disruption.  You are trying desperately to fit in and find your identity and you are failing.  What happens now?

In 2002, the “No Child Left Behind Act” was put in place to bring accountability to our education system so that we were not just passing children along through the education system.  I am a strong advocate for accountability.  Yet this system and the subsequent checks and balances have left schools and education systems at the mercy of the resulting test scores.  While this is good in theory, it has also caused school funding to be directed at “teaching the test” in order to maintain school funding.  It has also required the elimination of programs that could benefit our children.

School systems used to meet the needs of all children on a broad scale.  For instance, if your learning skills required that you be able to learn through hands on projects, you could do so.  I was a terrible math student.  I made it through algebra, thank to the diligent efforts of my math teacher and my after school education.  I was very thankful that my required math courses could be completed through business math and accounting courses.  I was an excellent student and excelled in English, history, business courses and management courses.  I was able to continue being an excellent student by focusing on my abilities.

We used to offer alternative courses that counted toward our credit requirements for graduation and prepared us for our future employment.  These included vocational classes and arts classes that focused on the abilities and talents as well as interests of the student.  Those have been shut down in favor of academic preparation.  Does This work?  National statistics say that one in four high school students fail to graduate.

Upon sentencing to the Department of Corrections, you are sent to Denver Reception and Diagnostic Center (Colorado) or DRDC.  There you receive a medical, mental health, education, vocation and offender classification evaluation.  Once you have cleared DRDC you are sent to your permanent facility.  The only real requirement that CDOC has is that you receive your GED.  However, it is not made easy.  There are few teachers for the preparatory classes and the classes are sporadic.  Even if you have the best intention of obtaining your GED it can take you two years to get it done.  When my son reached his first facility, he began to work on his GED.  When he found out that the GED classes were sporadic, he decided to get the books, read and take a pre-test.  Once the pre-test was completed you were evaluated to see which classes you needed to be prepared for the test.  Jon did not need any classes.  He signed up for the GED test. 

When the test results came back, he had passed 3 portions with a 98, one portion with an 96 and the last section with an 88 (math).  He was in the top 3% of the state.  When he was arrested, he was failing school.  His fault?  Yes, you have to attend and do the work to pass.  When I asked him why he did so well on the test when he was failing school he said, “I could not focus in class, I always felt lost and I lost interest.  I stopped trying.  Now I have no distractions and I found out that I understood everything better than I thought.  I would get bored in class because we were always covering the same things but now I can study at my own pace.”  When Jon’s other evaluations came back, the Officer called him over to discuss the results.  he looked at Jon and said,”Do you realize that your IQ test shows that you are of superior intelligence?  What happened?”  “I was a kid.  Kids do dumb things.”

I have seen the creativity of those behind bars.  They are incredible artists, inventors and engineers.  I have received a beautiful stemmed rose folded and created from toilet paper.  I have received a macrame cross that was woven from the threads unraveling at the end of the sheet.  I have received pen and ink sketches that rival great artists.  I have heard of the tattoo guns they build, the wine they brew and the creative communication system they have….even when they are not supposed to communicate. 

But out here they failed, out here they didn’t fit, out here they were singled out as “trouble”.  Don’t you think we could find a practical use for all of this talent and energy?  Don’t you think we, as a society of people, would be better served by requiring that these offenders be educated and then devote their skills to helping their communities?  Is it possible they have solutions for some of the problems our communities face?  And they have the time to devote to finding the solution. 

Facts, Figures and rules are the foundation of education.  Teach a man to think, reason, problem solve and create and you will have possibilities, inventions, solutions.

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Juvenile Clemency Board in Colorado

6. August 2008 by Mary Ellen.

COLORADO : A LEADER IN JUVENILE JUSTICE

Coloradans have the opportunity to become worldwide leaders in what happens to juveniles when they are tried, convicted and incarcerated. To achieve this goal, Governor Ritter recently formed the first Juvenile Commutation and Pardon Board in the United States., Now, we believe it is time that he direct this Board and the Department of Corrections to create Juvenile Rehabilitation Programs, which can, and should, factor into commutation decisions for these juveniles.

Without question, Colorado must consider other civil justice policies than merely “throwing away the key” when a juvenile commits a crime. While the dictates of justice, and the considerations of victims are inarguable, we believe Colorado must also look at juvenile justice from a higher moral viewpoint than adult criminal justice.

Commutations for juvenile offenders are not the answer in every case, but to preclude commutations outright, as a matter of State policy, is to abrogate a cornerstone of our Constitution : that justice be meted out on the merits of each case - and not in the “one-punishment-fits-all” fashion we see today.

We believe that reduced sentences, in certain cases, are in the best interests of all Coloradans. By using Commutation as a potential reward for incarcerated juveniles, combined with a well organized series of programs for rehabilitation and education Colorado can become a leader in juvenile justice practice and a model for much-needed reforms.

Judges today, in cases of juveniles tried as adults, have few discretions to preclude unduly long sentences, or to factor rehabilitative potential in the punitive phase of a juvenile’s case. It may shock the sensibilities of most Coloradans to realize that there are dozens of juveniles now serving life without parole in Colorado prisons, and that these juveniles were charged as adults without any judicial role in that process, and were then sent to prison for life, with no judge ever being involved in the sentencing decision. These “lethal intersection” cases are a clear example of over-reaching prosecutors tipping the balance of powers in our State, without the citizenry ever realizing how unjust our system has become in these cases.

In the few cases where judges do still have some measure of sentencing discretion, the program options available for juvenile offenders are little more than a lock down boot camps. There is a place for boot camps in any juvenile justice program, but we believe these should be integrated with educational and rehabilitative programs that truly serve to redeem a juvenile offender while he or she pays the consequences of their actions by serving their sentence.

When a juvenile is tried and convicted , we as a State, must say,” We now have a duty, not only to punish this individual for the crimes they have committed, but to give them every chance for rehabilitation and education while serving their sentence. To otherwise return them to society without doing so, is a guarantee of a repeat cycle of failure and renewed criminal conduct.

Instead, in too many cases, unrestrained District Attorneys try them as adults, sentence them to extraordinarily long mandatory adult sentences, where they are incarcerated in adult prisons with no programs and no rehabilitation. We put these children into survival mode with the worst adult prisoners in our state, and keep them in warehouse facilities where the only “recreation” is violence.

No judge, no jury, no Governor, and no Parole or Commutation Board can know which juvenile will succeed in being rehabilitated and which will not. The way to find out, is to give them the opportunity. It is well said that morality and character cannot be infused, but rather, can only be illuminated. Custodial rehabilitation may be the only light some juveniles are ever given to rebuild their lives with. The best course is to give them the illuminating lights of rehabilitation and education, and measure their progress carefully. Lowering sentences does not have to mean automatic parole for unrepentant offenders. It should mean the opportunity for parole, if the juvenile is working towards true rehabilitation.

Compounding the problem is the fact that post-trial decision makers have very limited information as to which juveniles should receive consideration for a lowered or modified sentence. The only information entered into a juvenile’s in-custody file are negative indicators commonly known as incidents reports or write-ups. In fact, no system exists to report positive behavior, accomplishments while in custody, or rehabilitative progress. The only scoring done, is when the juvenile makes a mistake. Our government was not established to so unfairly prevent those who have fallen, from ever getting up, but that is the state of juvenile justice in Colorado today, and we believe this deserves attention and remedy.

Lest any Coloradan think these policies are only the problems of convicted criminals, you need only look at the cost of these policies that is borne by every citizen of our state, every single day. Our school graduation rates continue to fall, while our prison population continues to rise. While state spending on education over the past 10 years has increased by less than 21%, spending on prisons has increased more than 122%. When all our money is pulled from schools to build more prisons, it is no accident that our children follow. Case in point : merely housing the juveniles already sentenced to life without parole in our prisons today will cost the taxpayers more than $50 million dollars.

Colorado cannot afford the failed policies of the past.

That is why we call upon Governor Ritter to act. To rise above the failures of “throwing away the key”, and to implement policies and practices that balance all the diverse needs inherent in Colorado juvenile justice - the undeniable need for punitive sanctions for criminal conduct, the need for rehabilitation of juvenile offenders, and the need for the State to have policies which make moral and fiscal sense.

We believe Governor Ritter can and should direct the Juvenile Commutation and Pardon Board to make recommendations to the Department of Corrections as to which juveniles can be eligible for release programs after reviewing the file of each juvenile who asks for the program.

We believe that Governor Ritter should ensure that those who graduate from rehabilitative and educational programs then be eligible to apply to the Juvenile Commutation and Pardon Board for a reduced sentence.

Failing Executive Branch action, we believe this model should be put into law by the Legislature, so that judges can modify prison sentences for juveniles when they have earned eligibility.

Colorado can become a worldwide leader in Juvenile Justice. Not all, perhaps not even a majority, of the juveniles given such opportunities for redemption will succeed. Those that are redeemable, however, deserve the opportunity to work hard and earn a second chance. Not a free pardon. Not automatic parole. A second chance.

Who among us would deny this to someone who has paid a price for his crimes, and worked hard to earn this second chance?

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Sentencing Disparity for Juveniles

6. August 2008 by Mary Ellen.

When prosecutors and other proponents of locking kids up for life defend their position, they always maintain some version of the following:

“These are the worst of the worst.”

“A jury heard all the evidence and convicted them.” 

“You can’t just change the law. Victims would have to show up for endless parole hearings and would be re-traumatized.”

“We have to send a message so these punks will think twice before pulling the trigger.”

Today I’m going to tackle the opposition’s first “argument,” “These are  the worst of the worst.”

 

 No, they’re not.

 

We have kids serving life for a hit and run, who never pulled the trigger or knew that a crime was about to take place.  We have teens who killed their molesters. One young defendant was “the most severely abused child” social workers had ever seen. Some of these kids were obviously mentally ill when they were arrested and have grown worse since their incarceration.

 

 I know. I’m just making excuses for these kids. How dare I? 

 

Okay, but how about when it comes to adults? Why do grown men and women often get far lower sentences than juveniles?

Don’t believe me? Then how do you explain the following cases, which can be lifted from any Colorado newspaper on any given day?

 

A woman is convicted of shooting, dismembering and cannibalizing her boyfriend. Investigators find “bite-sized chunks of human flesh” in a cooking pot at the woman’s home. After10 years of treatment at the state hospital, the woman is allowed to leave,  “So long,” said the judge, “as she continues to take her medication and participate in therapy.”

 Now, we have kids who are bi-polar, borderline,  paranoid schizophrenic, who believe George Bush is going to pardon them and that their parents are the devil and who are suffering from post-traumatic stress from a lifetime of being sexually abused. Were they sent to a mental institution? Will they receive therapy? Will they be released so long as they take their medication and participate in therapy?

Not on your life.

Here’s another interesting story:

 A Colorado Springs man kills his friend and, following a plea bargain,  is sentenced to 16 years in prison. Police found the dead friend’s blood in the killer’s bedroom, the friend’s body in the crawl space of the killer’s house and a cigarette butt containing the killer’s DNA near the body. The killer denies knowing anything about his friend’s death. He also blames his problems on a long-time drug habit and said he robbed a bank – for which he was also charged—in order to pay off a drug debt.

So the guy gets a plea bargain from the same prosecutors who NEVER offer plea bargains to juveniles. The same prosecutors who say, “Abuse is no excuse. If you’re old enough to do the crime you’re old enough to do the time.” And, who have charged kids with first-degree murder on the most circumstantial of evidence. But when it’s an adult with a good attorney and when the adult has a drug habit and has to rob a bank and  takes full responsibility for his actions by denying he killed anybody, well, then 16 years is plenty of time to spend behind bars.

Previously I mentioned  the teen who’s serving life for a hit and run. Dietrick Mitchell’s been behind bars half his life now because he was 16, because, after accidentally hitting another teen  he turned himself in, because he was wrongly accused of being a gangbanger and because the accident took place late at night and Dietrick Mitchell was later found to have lousy eyesight. 

Of course he deserved life!

Think that’s an aberration? Here are a couple more hit-and-runs involving adults:

Forty-one-year Denver driver hits two pedestrians, killing one. The driver drags the dying man more than 600 feet. Apparently, the driver still had no idea that he’d hit anybody because he didn’t stop. Perhaps that’s the reason the judge charges the driver with “two counts of leaving the scene of an accident.” Do you think HE  spent any time in prison?

Once again, in Colorado Springs:

Pedestrian is struck by a Ford Expedition that doesn’t  even slow down following the fatal crash.  The defendant, 32-year-old Stony Ray Garcia,   has an extensive record, including more than 16 court cases involving two convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol, two convictions for driving with a suspended license, and many other cases including assault, larceny, theft, domestic violence, harassment and fraud.

 Because Mr. Garcia was no longer a teen he faced a grown up sentence – up to 10 years in prison. If only Dietrick Mitchell had an extensive arrest record and was a couple of decades older, he’d be back on the streets by now!

 

One of my favorite incidents involves Jeanne Smith, a former prosecutor and current head of Colorado’s juvenile clemency board, (which just turned down the first two juveniles who sought a reduced sentence after decades in prison). In the past, Ms. Smith also testified against Jacob Ind, one of our young LWOPS. Smith delighted in recounting to members of the judiciary committee the gruesome crime scene when Jacob killed his mother and step-father. Smith did neglect to detail  the lifetime of  physical, emotional and sexual abuse that the fifteen-year-old had suffered at the hands of his abusers before  killing them. (In Jacob’s case, motive doesn’t matter.) While Jacob Ind certainly deserved life without parole, Ms. Smith DID plea bargain the following adult murderer. This particular gentleman executed his girlfriend, cut up her body and threw the body by the railroad tracks.

 

Okay, so that crime isn’t nearly as heinous as Jacob’s.

 

Which is why, Jeanne Smith happily negotiated a prison sentence of twelve years.

 

And speaking of abused kids who kill their parents, we have two, Jacob Ind and Nathan Ybanez, serving life sentences. Fair enough. But what should the sentence be for a 38-year-old son who does the following to his 58-year-old father?

Throws a birthday party for Pops. Before the party Montoya the Younger douses Montoya the Older with kerosene, sets him ablaze with a cigarette lighter and says: “You are going to die today—happy birthday; you are the candle.” Several painful weeks later,  Montoya the Older expires. Being burned over your entire body has to be an extremely painful way to die, though Montoya the Younger’s lawyer described the fire as “an impulsive act” and says his client doesn’t think he’s guilty.

Let’s get this straight: kids are supposed to take full responsibility for their actions but adults aren’t — which may be the reason Martinez the Younger received a sentence of 16 years behind bars– with the possibility of parole after five.

Sixteen years seems to be a pretty standard sentence when an adult, rather than a teen, kills a family member. Here’s an adult, Matthew Schneider, whose 29-day-old son died from a brain hemorrhage caused by blunt force and shaken baby syndrome. Schneider admitted to causing his baby’s death  when he became “frustrated and snapped.”

While nobody had any sympathy for Jacob Ind and Nathan Ybanez, who were being raped by their parents before they became “frustrated and snapped,” guess it’s different when you kill a baby. 

“I don’t have any doubt in my mind what the right sentence is,” the judge said, before sentencing Schneider to 16 years. “It is not a light sentence. We have one huge lapse of judgment with tragic consequences.”

Killing a baby is merely a lapse of judgment. Killing your abusers merits you lifetime incarceration.

 Finally, there’s the problem of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. We have kids who were riding in a car driven by far older gang members. The gang members commit  a drive-by, which results in death. The kid had nothing to do with the shooting, though he’ll get life without parole while the older gang banger will probably get a lesser sentence. (They’re smart enough to roll over on the younger ones or  “snitch” about other crimes and negotiate a deal.)  Okay, once again we have the following:

Twenty-five-year-old female buys the bullets that she knows her boyfriend is going to use to kill his ex-girl friend. Boyfriend DOES kill the ex-girlfriend. Judge says he has the option of giving the 25- year-old “two to six years in Community Corrections or an indeterminate time on probation.”

Kid in the back seat of a car gets life. Adult who buys the bullets to kill someone – sounds like accessory to me – gets a halfway house?

And this is justice? And these kids rotting behind bars are the worst of the worst?

America’s justice system has many different levels – one level for the rich and privileged and politically connected and another for the rest of us. One for whites and a far harsher one for blacks. And one that, when it comes to children, believes only in retribution.

Just ask Colorado’s 48 kids serving life without parole.

Just  ask the 2,300 13-14-15-16-and-17-year-olds across America who were sentenced to die in prison.

But who cares?

After all, they’re only kids.

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