Life in Prison for a 12 year old

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http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/10/pennsylvania.young.murder.defendant/?hpt=C1

This website is about a young boy who is accused for shooting his future step-mother in the head and killing her. She was also 8 months pregnant with a baby boy and had 2 other daughters already who were 4 and 7. This boy, at the time of the crime, was only 11. Now 12, the boy has been in a juvenile detention center for almost a year. If he is convicted of this murder, he will go to prison for life without parole. Investigators are still trying to find out if this boy was the murderer, since the only witness was the oldest daughter of the victim, who only heard a loud boom.

This article reminds me of a comment I made on someone else's blog about the 'murder gene' and how so many people have this gene and do not even know it. It makes me wonder if the investigators will test this boy to see if he has the gene or not. If he did, then I think this case could have more proof that he was the murderer. Children, like this boy, do not have to grow up in situations that are violent to be violent themselves. They can have a normal life and still have violent tendencies due to having this 'murder gene.'

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8 Comments

I would be mildly shocked and somewhat disappointed in our legal system if this boy was sentenced to life without parole. If the boy did indeed commit the murder that he is accused of, a life sentence without parole would an outrage. This boy has not developed psychologically enough to understand the ramifications of his actions. True, by the time your 11 years old you should know right from wrong and it is certainly wrong to kill people. But there is a lot to be said about the emotional and behavioral development of pre-teens as they mature with time. Condemning this 12 year old is not the solution and it would provide us with no real compensation for the crime, just another prisoner living off of tax dollars for the next 80 years. In my opinion, it would make much more sense to send this boy to some sort of rehabilitation center and with extensive psychological treatment, could be released later on in life.

This is a very interesting story. However, even if they find the 'murder gene,' it doesn't prove that he committed murder. I'm sure that there are plenty of people with the 'murder gene' who don't ever commit murder.
No one just murders someone without a reason, unless they're insane, which I do not think that this boy is. The friends of the family also said that he was not a violent boy.
I do not think that the boy is guilty because he seems reasonably well-adjusted. It's possible that the fiance committed suicide for some reason or another that was not explored in the article.

This is really sad. While I do feel bad for the rest of the family who lost their loved one, I can't even think of a 12 year old spending the rest of his life in prison when the only witness only heard a "boom." Though I have not searched any other sources about this case, it does not seem like there is enough evidence to sentence this boy to life in prison. I agree with the first comment that I would be upset if he was convicted without the possibility of parole.

I would be very cautious to imprison this little boy given the evidence at hand. If they found out down the road that he was innocent, they took away some of the most important developmental times in his life which he will never get back. I would guess he would suffer greatly from psycholigical issues if wrongfully imprisoned at such a young age.

It will be interesting to see what ends up happening in this case!

This story reminds me about another case I have read about. The story I read was about a group of teenagers who set one of their friends on fire and killed them. The ages of all the people involved ranged from 13-17. However, this case differs because the individuals that were younger were tried as juveniles and not adults. I find it hard for anyone to believe that this kid should be charged as an adult. I have learned in Developmental Psychology that kids are not fully mature at age 12; they are actually far from it. Hopefully the justice system will realize their mistake, and fix it! Also, he here is a link to the story I was talking about earlier:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/10/florida.burned.boy.charges/index.html

Yes this is a very sad case! I have a hard time agreeing with the terms of his sentence if convicted. I am also skeptical of the only witness being a 9 year old family member. For all investigators know she may be saying this because of a possible sibling rivalry. Twelve year olds (typically) understand the consequences of firing a loaded gun but there may be mental issues not being addressed. I want to note that I am not condoning his actions at all.

If this so called "murder gene" does in fact exist, this case definitely merits that more research needs to be done. It is arguable that some people may be born inherently evil, however, assuming that this is the case can (and is) very troublesome in regards to the wrongfully accused.

First of all I think that there is still too little to go off of when convicting this young Child. According to this article all they really have is a 7 year old girl saying she heard a "boom" (only after being questioned 2 times did she say this) and his shirt with gun residue, which it is known that he was an avid hunter with his father so in a way that rules that out. It also says that here is no sign of forced entry...In most cases in the morning before school the doors are unlocked if one of the spouses has already left for work. If there was an intruder, all they needed to do was walk in.

I think these are all instances that should be reviewed before they try to put an 11 now 12 year old young Child behind bars for the rest of his life.


It would upset me greatly if he was convicted as an adult. I think it is clear that he is not a cold blooded killer. It says in the article that he is still much shaken by what has happened and in his counseling classes he is doing very well. With killers, they tend to have no feeling when it comes to a murder. There is no progress or decline in counseling because they tend to show nothing. Here we have a young child who is said to be a very loving and happy child, and from the sounds of it he is showing signs of emotion.

It is not fair to put a child that young behind bars. He is still growing mentally. All the aspects of a developed brain are not with him yet because he is so young.

I feel sorry for the victim’s family and I would want justice as well. But I do not think putting a young child behind bars is really justice.

I am very interested in what comes out with this case. And to see if Supreme Court does change laws regarding young children in prison.

Even if this young boy was guilty, I do not think he should be charged as an adult. If he is charged as an adult, he should deffinetly not get life in prison without parole. Like one of the previous comments said, this boy will be missing out on a very important developmental stage in his life and if he is found innocent later in life than he will be even more messed up then when he went into prison and maybe more likely to commit a murder.

I think this case is very interesting and partially unbelievable. There are many things to examine in this case. The first is obviously if he did it or not. Just because they have nobody else to charge in the case does not mean the little boy did it. It sounds like the DA just wants someone to go down for the crime and the boy is the best candidate. Also I think it is crazy that the judge in the case said that his only choses were to send him to adult court or not charge him at all? I think that is crazy considering the kid is 12 years old! I understand the grief that the family of the victim is going through but I also think that the kid has a full life ahead of him and it is absurd to lock him up in an adult facility for his whole life. I think this case has a lot of issues that need to be addressed not only on the investigated level but also on the Pennsylvania law, and how they deal with these kind of cases.

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