3. March 2009 by Rev Young.

A second chance for young killers?
BY PAUL HAMMEL
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

LINCOLN - At age 13, Darren McCracken grabbed a handgun from his mother’s
bedroom, loaded the weapon and shot his mom twice in the back of the head as
she slept on a sofa.

The slaying stunned those in tiny Smithfield, Neb., who knew the chubby
teenager. Darren was an unhappy and troubled kid. You could see it in his
eyes, people said.

His brother bullied him and pushed him around on the vacant lot where kids
gathered to play football. When a neighbor handed out ice cream, the brother
would take some and say Darren didn’t want any.

Away from his brother, Darren could be friendly and chatty. He’d follow
around the cook at Tuffy’s tavern and sit on porches with local widows who
fed him homemade cookies.

The town eventually learned from trial testimony that Darren not only had
been beaten but sexually abused by the older brother for years. His divorced
mother, a heavy drinker with a sharp tongue, had done little to intervene.

Fed up, Darren ran away from home.

Then, in what a psychologist described as the twisted logic of someone
suffering from post-traumatic stress, he returned home and shot his mother,
Vicki Bray.

Darren McCracken was the youngest Nebraskan ever sentenced to life in
prison, without parole. At age 29, he has spent more than half his life
behind bars for the 1993 killing.

Now some say McCracken and 23 other juveniles like him deserve a second
chance.

State Sen. Brenda Council of Omaha has introduced a bill to repeal the
sentence of life in prison without parole for anyone under age 18. The
Legislature will begin debate on the measure Tuesday.

Council would make the sentence 50 years to life for juveniles who are 16 or
17 when they commit a first-degree murder. Juveniles under 16 - as McCracken
was - would face a sentence of 40 years to life.

Under state sentencing guidelines, that means McCracken would be eligible
for parole after 20 years. Older juveniles, those 16 and 17, would have to
serve 25 years.

“To me, a sentence of life without parole is tantamount to the death
penalty,” said Council, who has made Legislative Bill 307 her priority bill
this year.

Others say heinous premeditated murder deserves harsh punishment, regardless
of the age of the perpetrator.

“This bill will give a criminal . . . a second chance at life that the
victims of their cruel, senseless acts did not receive,” Kirby Drake told
the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee.

Drake’s sister Sharmon Stock and brother-in-law Wayne Stock were shot and
killed by a pair of teenage runaways from Wisconsin. One was Jessica Reid,
then 17, who wrote in her diary that the murder was a thrill: “I loved it. I
wish I could do it all the time.”

“These are not children you want to release - these are killers,” said
Sharon Hanke, whose sister, Sasha, 12, was killed by Sydney Thieszen, 14, in
1987.

Council said her bill is not a “get out of jail free card.”

It would ensure only that juveniles convicted of these crimes have an
opportunity for a parole hearing. Those who don’t deserve to be freed would
not be let out, Council said.

Nebraska is one of 19 states that allow 13- and 14-year-olds to be sentenced
to life without parole. As of last year, only eight states bar such
sentences for all juveniles.

The American Civil Liberties Union testified in support of Council’s bill.
The group has said that nationally the number of juveniles being sentenced
to life without parole has increased three-fold in recent years. In
Nebraska, 15 juveniles have been sentenced to life since 1990.

Amy Miller of the ACLU said the judicial system considers juveniles
differently from adults because of their immaturity. They cannot be
sentenced to die, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled. They cannot enter
contracts, serve on juries, legally drink alcohol or be drafted.

Miller said there is a racial disparity in who gets a sentence of life
without parole. In Nebraska, just over half of the 24 juveniles who received
that sentence are members of minority groups.

The Nebraska Catholic bishops and the Rev. Val Peter, former executive
director of Boys Town, support the bill. They say compassion dictates that
people be given a second chance.

State prosecutors oppose the bill. They already take into account immaturity
and lack of a criminal record in deciding whether to charge juveniles in
adult court - where they can face life in prison - or as juveniles,
according to Kimberly Pankonin, deputy Douglas County attorney.

If juveniles cannot get life in prison for murders, she said, gangs will
begin to recruit younger members for killings. Pankonin said prosecutors
should continue to have leeway in juvenile cases because some 15- and
16-year-olds are as mature as adults.

Out in Smithfield, population 68, some feel bad that they didn’t see the
depth of Darren McCracken’s problems at home.

“I think he needed help,” said a former neighbor, Bonnie Remmenga, “but not
being imprisoned for the rest of his life.”

Even one of his mother’s younger sisters, Cheryl White, said McCracken
deserves a second chance. White said her sister had tried unsuccessfully to
get Darren some counseling.

“I think he was just trying to stop what he was going through,” White said.
“He didn’t want her to see it.”

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3. March 2009 by Rev Young.

February 25, 2009

Give lifers sentenced as kids second chance

The Register’s editorial

Everyone knows that children do stupid and risky things. These acts are usually dismissed as youthful indiscretions, and the kids get a chance to move on with their lives. If the act violates the law, however, it can mean criminal or prison records. In extreme cases in Iowa and 42 other states, it can mean a sentence to an agonizingly slow death behind bars.

Even if this legislation is passed, it’s not likely to be used often. According to a legislative staff report, Iowa prisons hold 42 inmates serving life sentences for offenses committed when they were under age 18. All 42 were convicted of murder or kidnapping in the first degree. Of those, only 19 will have served for 15 years by the time this bill could become law.
Still, the state should give prison inmates this option, even if it leads to the salvaging of only a few lives from a long and slow death sentence issued when they were still children.

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