should minors be tried as adults

[LovebirdsFlying]

Christian forgiveness and secular punishment aren't related.

If someone rapes and murders my wife (it doesn't matter whether they are 14 or 44), I have the right (and, as a Christian, the duty) to forgive. But that doesn't mean society loses the right to protection in case they decide to figure that I was daft enough to let them off so they can go and do it again.

This is true. Even when people are forgiven, they still need to face consequences for what they did. Zaccheus was forgiven, but he still had to pay back restitution to those he stole from, and pay punitive damages as well.

 

[dogs4thewin]

Okay when if a "child" murders your kid or your wife. What do you think now?

One not all taking of a life is murder under the law. ( even the Bible had safe places people could go if they were falsely accused or the killing was not on purpose. Two the fact is that they are children and are not as developed mentally as adults whether they killed MY family or not does not change that fact. Lastly, what does locking them up really do if we could help them it is NOT going to bring the person back.

 

[dogs4thewin]

A lot of fourteen-to-seventeen-year-olds would be very quick to remind you they're not children anymore if they want to be allowed to do something like stay up late or choose their own clothes or watch certain TV shows. So, since they want to be grownups, fine. Let them face grownup consequences if they commit a crime.

True to a point. The fact is that children are not as mentally developed as adults and so should not be treated the same. Matter of a fact, the brain does not FULLY mature until about 25.

 

[Krissy Cakes]

A lot of fourteen-to-seventeen-year-olds would be very quick to remind you they're not children anymore if they want to be allowed to do something like stay up late or choose their own clothes or watch certain TV shows. So, since they want to be grownups, fine. Let them face grownup consequences if they commit a crime.

:thumbsup:

 

[dogs4thewin]

Keep in mind, moreover that in many ( if not all states) not sure if there is a federal law on this), but minors must be protected from adult prisoners, so it is not like we can treat them the same. By law, once the state chooses to take ANYONE into custody they because responsiable for their care AND safety, and to a certain extent liable if they fail in that.

 

[psalms 91]

True but they can still be tried as adults and given life without parole

 

[dogs4thewin]

True but they can still be tried as adults and given life without parole

In some states, a few states ( most notablly Texas) have dropped life without parole for minors.

 

[tango]

True but they can still be tried as adults and given life without parole

Life without parole for a child would need to be reserved for the most extreme cases.

In a lot of cases I suspect the child could be educated to realise that killing people is not acceptable behavior and rehabilitated. I'd be inclined to allow parole only once it could be shown that the child was rehabilitated. That way if it took a year for them to come to realise that killing people is permanent and not like a cartoon where they just come back to life after blinking twice, or The A-Team where you can rattle machine guns into crowds without hitting anyone or whatever else, they could be released. At the same time if after 20 years they were bragging about the guy they slotted they'd stay in prison.

 

[Lamb]

In 1985 I graduated from high school. That same year a 16 year old named Paula Cooper and her friends murdered an older lady after going to her door under the pretense of wanting bible classes. They killed the lady and got away with $10 and her car. I was horrified that someone close to my age would do something so horrendous and not have any remorse.

Paula Cooper was sentenced and put on death row...but when she was 43 she was released from prison and again I was shocked that they did that. I hadn't heard any other news about her since the 1980s, yet her name still stuck in my head. Was Paula rehabilitated? I'm not totally sure since she still had mental issues and committed suicide 2 years after her release.

I bring this story up because it had a deep impact on my young life living so close to Gary, Indiana and most importantly hearing the crime of someone close to my age. I couldn't fathom the taking of another person's life as Paula and her friends did. She was the first teenager to receive a death sentence.

When I was a teenager the joke was that it didn't matter if you committed a crime because you were a kid and they couldn't do anything to you until you were 18 (in the way of punishment). Yeah. Young people do believe that.

 

[dogs4thewin]

In 1985 I graduated from high school. That same year a 16 year old named Paula Cooper and her friends murdered an older lady after going to her door under the pretense of wanting bible classes. They killed the lady and got away with $10 and her car. I was horrified that someone close to my age would do something so horrendous and not have any remorse.

Paula Cooper was sentenced and put on death row...but when she was 43 she was released from prison and again I was shocked that they did that. I hadn't heard any other news about her since the 1980s, yet her name still stuck in my head. Was Paula rehabilitated? I'm not totally sure since she still had mental issues and committed suicide 2 years after her release.

I bring this story up because it had a deep impact on my young life living so close to Gary, Indiana and most importantly hearing the crime of someone close to my age. I couldn't fathom the taking of another person's life as Paula and her friends did. She was the first teenager to receive a death sentence.

When I was a teenager the joke was that it didn't matter if you committed a crime because you were a kid and they couldn't do anything to you until you were 18 (in the way of punishment). Yeah. Young people do believe that.

Today by federal law one MUST be at least 18 AT THE TIME OF THE CRIME not trial not when they caught, not when they are sentenced but at the TIME they committed the crime to receive the death sentence.

 

[psalms 91]

as it should be