2 years ago
No Country For Young Men
I could spend all day and night detailing the woes of the American judicial system, but I will focus on one troubling issue, that being the lack of options given to prosecutors when trying young minors accused of murder or other capital offenses. I am writing this in reaction to a recent Pittsburgh murder case where a 12-year-old boy shot and killed his father’s fiancé and has been subsequently charged as an adult.
Under PA law, if a prosecutor decides a child can be rehabilitated, he may chose to charge the minor as a juvenile and the child would be incarcerated in a juvenile detention center until the age of 21. At this point the perpetrator would be release and his conviction would be expunged from his criminal record. If the juvenile is charged as an adult, we are left to question whether putting a 12-year-old in jail for 25 years is ethically sounds.
There needs to be a middle ground when it comes to deciding the fate of our youngest derelicts. While I agree that laws and stiff punishments act as a serious deterrent, can we truly weigh a preadolescent’s ability to realize the consequences of their actions at such a young age? There are monsters out there, however it is irresponsible to send our youngest to jail with potential life sentences if rehabilitation is a viable option.
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