Holding Children To The Same Standard As An Adult 

How America Has Turned Its Back On Its Minority Children 

By: Mario Fernando Bueno

If you are a minority child in Michigan, you are eleven times more likely to be tried, convicted, and sentenced as an adult, as apposed to a white youth of the same age and for the same crime. Throughout the nation this statistic is prevalent in most states that sentence children to life. The significance of this statistic should not be overlooked or taken lightly. We live in an America that is lead by “change”, yet in an America that is –to some degree- still rooted in institutional racism. The laws enabling children to be sentenced to life imprisonment are, in and of themselves, not racist; it’s the manner that they are being applied that results in the racial disparity. If for no other reason, the racial disparity in sentencing minority children to life should be cause for concern in our legislative halls.

As I sit at the epicenter of the debate as to whether children should be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole (my mother is the founder and current President of Second Chance For Youth, a non-profit organization aimed at ending the laws that allow children to be sentenced to life), I am saddened at the realization that America has turned its back on its children. The fact that there exists such a debate… such a heated controversy… as to whether CHILDREN – say it again… CHILDREN- should be allowed to be sentenced to LIFE IN PRISON bewilders me.

In Michigan, District Attorneys Kim Worthy (Wayne County) and Jessica Cooper (Oakland County) vehemently oppose ending the law that allows children to be sentenced to life. In addition, Michigan Republicans lead by Senators Alan Cropsey and Michael Bishop are opposed to ending this barbaric law; and, together they have been successful. Senator Cropsey has recently stated in an interview that he is looking for any reason to support the juvenile reform bills introduced by the Democrats, but that has not found any. Here are three reasons: (1) logic,  (2) common sense,  (3) a sense of humanity.

The Republicans, District Attorneys, and Victim’s Organizations who support the laws that allow children to be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole argue that children thirteen to seventeen “knew right from wrong”. While this premise ignores the marked difference between the analytical abilities, impulsiveness, life experience, and rational thinking tools between adults and children, for arguments sake, lets accept the rationale that children should be held to the same standard as an adult… because “they knew right from wrong”. Then, it is only logical that the “playing field” should be leveled; that children should then be held to the same standard in all facets of our society and not simply when it comes to crime and punishment. Immediately, legislation should be introduces- by the supporters of sentencing children to life in prison- that would allow children thirteen to seventeen the power to sign a contract, purchase cigarettes, vote, enroll in the armed services, purchase firearms, obtain a driver’s license, purchase adult films, work forty plus hours per week, have consensual sex, marry, and the list can go on and on.

Is this proposition illogical? Of course, because children are fundamentally and markedly different than adults. To hold a child to the same standard as that of an adult only in terms of crime and punishment is hypocritical, unconstitutional, and evil. The reality is children make mistakes… even tragic ones. Yes, children are salvageable. Children are more amenable to treatment and habilitation because of the plasticity of their brains and their lack of physiological and social maturation. It is this lack of maturity that prevents us from holding children to the same standard as an adult… It is this lack of maturity that should compel America to never turn its back on its children.

To read another story by Mario please go to [1] http://s246427087.onlinehome.us/freejonny/a-story-of-mario/