http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/us/politics/18court.html?hp
Um, seriously? This had to go to the Supreme Court? How can you even consider that a teen violating probation get life imprisonment when neither crime (the first or the violation) resulted in death? And as far as I saw, in both cases he was just the accomplice. Hanging out with morons and keeping them company isn't quite the thing to merit life in prison, where they can hang out with more morons and keep them company.
Originally posted by USArmyParatrooperYes. I'm always wondering why the paranoid anti-government populace in the U.S. isn't complaining about this.
The problem is DA's and Judges are actually politicians, and IMO that's a flaw in our system. It's always politically expedient to be "tough on crime"
Originally posted by KazetNagorraGovernment is only evil when it helps the poor and taxes everyone else. Government is good when it gets tough on the poor and gives handouts to everyone else.
Yes. I'm always wondering why the paranoid anti-government populace in the U.S. isn't complaining about this.
Originally posted by pawnhandlerthe down side of being soft on crime is that you then get more of it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/us/politics/18court.html?hp
Um, seriously? This had to go to the Supreme Court? How can you even consider that a teen violating probation get life imprisonment when neither crime (the first or the violation) resulted in death? And as far as I saw, in both cases he was just the accomplice. Hanging out with morons and ...[text shortened]... thing to merit life in prison, where they can hang out with more morons and keep them company.
considering every erring teen as a tender little flower, worthy of rehabilition, doesn't do the rest of the population any favors.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/us/politics/18court.html?hp
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The case involved Terrance Graham, who in 2003, at age 16, helped rob a Jacksonville restaurant, during which an accomplice beat the manager with a steel bar. Mr. Graham was sentenced to a year in jail and three years’ probation for that crime.
The next year, at 17, Mr. Graham and two 20-year-old accomplices committed a home invasion robbery. In 2005, a judge sentenced Mr. Graham to life for violating his probation.
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http://www.foxnews.com/us/2009/11/09/juvenile-life-sentence-cases-raise-question-role-judge/
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In one of the cases, Graham v. Florida, Terrance Graham was 17-years-old and on parole when he broke into a man's home and robbed him at gunpoint. Graham pleaded guilty to armed burglary and was sent to prison for the rest of his life. The judge who imposed the sentence concluded that Graham had wasted his second chance at freedom and was a significant threat to society.
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