What are your opinions?

SPEEDY MCCREADY

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/ ... -in-prison

polaris_x

i believe in second chances ... it's a fine line tho ... i also believe in being accountable ...

not sure how that jackson kid deserves life ... he didn't kill the clerk ...

bjo1015

I think it has been proven that adolescent brains are not fully developed in terms of impulse control and decision making, so I believe in second chances.

But, some of those kids did some horrific things! I would think that there could be some way to examine them psychiatricly to determine if they have in fact matured and changed or offer them some sort of treatment.

SPEEDY MCCREADY

I am all about 2nd chances....
To a certain extent....

When I read this?
Does this person deserve a 2nd chance at joining society??

I say NO FUCKING WAY!!!!

Ashley Jones, Alabama
She was 14 when she helped her boyfriend kill her grandfather and aunt in Birmingham by stabbing and shooting them and then setting them ablaze. Jones also tried to kill her sister, 10, prosecutors said. The Equal Justice Initiative says the now 22-year-old has turned her life around and is deserving of a chance at freedom.

bjo1015

SPEEDY MCCREADY wrote:

I am all about 2nd chances....
To a certain extent....

When I read this?
Does this person deserve a 2nd chance at joining society??

I say NO FUCKING WAY!!!!

Ashley Jones, Alabama
She was 14 when she helped her boyfriend kill her grandfather and aunt in Birmingham by stabbing and shooting them and then setting them ablaze. Jones also tried to kill her sister, 10, prosecutors said. The Equal Justice Initiative says the now 22-year-old has turned her life around and is deserving of a chance at freedom.

I might be inclined to agree with you on this girl. It's also hard to say that someone has turned their life around when they haven't been a part of society for 8 years.

EdsonNascimento

Nope. As one of the comments says - most folks make it through childhood without killing someone. And, every one of these acts was premeditated to some extent.

I guess, case by case. But, for the majority of the ones described, bye, bye. They are wrong when they think the PENAL system is just about rehabilitation. It's also about PENALTY.

2nd Chance? Let's ask the people they killed. How about let's let them decide?

You randomly pick 2 elderly people to shoot while they are sleeping, you're done. Developing brain - BS!!!! My 4 year old knows that's wrong. And I let him watch WAY, WAY, WAY too much Tom and Jerry.

mikepegg44

EdsonNascimento wrote:

2nd Chance? Let's ask the people they killed.

You randomly pick 2 elderly people to shoot while they are sleeping, you're done. Developing brain - BS!!!! My 4 year old knows that's wrong. And I let him watch WAY, WAY, WAY too much Tom and Jerry.

It had to be posted.

What constitutes a second chance? they didn't get the death penalty. they are still alive, and quite frankly they never have to worry about another meal or shelter again. I realize prison isn't a great place, but it is better than the street and it is better than the grave. You can do a lot of good from prison, and maybe that is the second chance they deserve. They do not deserve a second chance to breath free air in my opinion.

QuarterToTen

They used up every chance they had when they made the calculated decision to brutally murder their family members. And then tried to murder another.

Sorry, Game Over.

The horrific nature of their crime is especially damning too, in my opinion.

g under p

mikepegg44 wrote:

EdsonNascimento wrote:

2nd Chance? Let's ask the people they killed.

You randomly pick 2 elderly people to shoot while they are sleeping, you're done. Developing brain - BS!!!! My 4 year old knows that's wrong. And I let him watch WAY, WAY, WAY too much Tom and Jerry.

It had to be posted.

What constitutes a second chance? they didn't get the death penalty. they are still alive, and quite frankly they never have to worry about another meal or shelter again. I realize prison isn't a great place, but it is better than the street and it is better than the grave. You can do a lot of good from prison, and maybe that is the second chance they deserve. They do not deserve a second chance to breath free air in my opinion.

I agree, you suffer the consequences of your crimes. They are lucky to be alive and to have a second chance to better their lives living in prison through speaking to those who may have the potential to end up where they will live until death.

Peace

Leyna Minai

I agree that it depends on the level of the crime. I don't think the Jackson kid deserves life in prison at all. He didn't pull the trigger. His so called 'friends' probably just told him they were going to use the gun to scare people. He was a young kid making stupid decisions.
Any form of premeditated murder seems unforgivalble though...like that Ashley chick. She wanted to kill and knew what she was doing. At 14 you should know the killing a person is wrong.

PJ_Soul

I think I'll reserve my sympathies for people who didn't beat someone to death with a baseball bat and then burn down a house or shoot people in cold blood. I don't really want people who have EVER done that walking around in society. I don't care if they were 12 or 14 or 16 or whatever. I was a teenager once, and despite the lack of brain development at that age, I recall knowing not to bash peoples heads open with bats. I even knew not to commitnarson. I think that's a stupid defense for anyone over the age of maybe 7.
But for other circumstances, there is certainly room for recovery in some cases. Not for baseball bat killers.and the like though.

chadwick

mikepegg44 wrote:

EdsonNascimento wrote:

2nd Chance? Let's ask the people they killed.

You randomly pick 2 elderly people to shoot while they are sleeping, you're done. Developing brain - BS!!!! My 4 year old knows that's wrong. And I let him watch WAY, WAY, WAY too much Tom and Jerry.

It had to be posted.

What constitutes a second chance? they didn't get the death penalty. they are still alive, and quite frankly they never have to worry about another meal or shelter again. I realize prison isn't a great place, but it is better than the street and it is better than the grave. You can do a lot of good from prison, and maybe that is the second chance they deserve. They do not deserve a second chance to breath free air in my opinion.

this is very well said. not that i support it as i do not know this case. i just like how you stated your opinion. nicely done.

however, prison being better than the streets? better than the grave sure, but better than the streets? nothing is better than the streets to a lot of folks. imagine what the streets provide vs' what they have in prison?

i would live on the streets before i live in prison.

PJ_Soul

chadwick wrote:

mikepegg44 wrote:

EdsonNascimento wrote:

2nd Chance? Let's ask the people they killed.

You randomly pick 2 elderly people to shoot while they are sleeping, you're done. Developing brain - BS!!!! My 4 year old knows that's wrong. And I let him watch WAY, WAY, WAY too much Tom and Jerry.

It had to be posted.

What constitutes a second chance? they didn't get the death penalty. they are still alive, and quite frankly they never have to worry about another meal or shelter again. I realize prison isn't a great place, but it is better than the street and it is better than the grave. You can do a lot of good from prison, and maybe that is the second chance they deserve. They do not deserve a second chance to breath free air in my opinion.

this is very well said. not that i support it as i do not know this case. i just like how you stated your opinion. nicely done.

however, prison being better than the streets? better than the grave sure, but better than the streets? nothing is better than the streets to a lot of folks. imagine what the streets provide vs' what they have in prison?

i would live on the streets before i live in prison.

I would also personally prefer the grave over life in prison.
Nonetheless, you brutally murder people, your opinion of what you'd prefer your life to be becomes completely irrelevant.

hedonist

PJ_Soul3388 wrote:

Nonetheless, you brutally murder people, your opinion of what you'd prefer your life to be becomes completely irrelevant.

My view on the death penalty aside, I agree with this.

PJ_Soul

hedonist wrote:

PJ_Soul3388 wrote:

Nonetheless, you brutally murder people, your opinion of what you'd prefer your life to be becomes completely irrelevant.

My view on the death penalty aside, I agree with this.

I strongly oppose the death penalty, btw. Punishing murder with murder seems pretty gross to me.

peacefrompaul

PJ_Soul3388 wrote:

hedonist wrote:

PJ_Soul3388 wrote:

Nonetheless, you brutally murder people, your opinion of what you'd prefer your life to be becomes completely irrelevant.

My view on the death penalty aside, I agree with this.

I strongly oppose the death penalty, btw. Punishing murder with murder seems pretty gross to me.

Not only that but when they put innocent people to death.

PJ_Soul

peacefrompaul wrote:

PJ_Soul3388 wrote:

I strongly oppose the death penalty, btw. Punishing murder with murder seems pretty gross to me.

Not only that but when they put innocent people to death.

Especially that. The justice system is terribly flawed... you can't be imposing death with a flawed (and corrupt) justice system where even a minute possibility of an innocent person getting executed exists. I can't fucking believe the US still has it.

hedonist

PJ_Soul3388 wrote:

hedonist wrote:

PJ_Soul3388 wrote:

Nonetheless, you brutally murder people, your opinion of what you'd prefer your life to be becomes completely irrelevant.

My view on the death penalty aside, I agree with this.

I strongly oppose the death penalty, btw. Punishing murder with murder seems pretty gross to me.

I don't, and it doesn't, to me.

But in my mind, it's not black and white, which is why I put my view of it aside. It had no relevance.

brianlux

When I worked as program assistant for a college Human Services program we had a guest speaker who was fairly high up in the prison system. He was not what I expected- a cold, brash, harsh man, but rather a compassionate and concerned professional. He told us the answer to violent crime and overcrowded prisons is to start working with kids- that this is more important than so-called rehabilitation. Obviously he meant working with kids before they hit their teens. The whole situation with violence- especially violence in youth is sad. I don't think our obsession with violence as entertainment (or amusement*) is helping either.

*amusement: from French à ‘to, at’ + muser: "to stare stupidly"

Godfather.

we can have another pages long debate about the death penalty but the bottom line is would you want one of these little killers living next door to you and your family ?

back to the topic...my opinion is that if these kids can kill and go about their business like it was no big deal
then there is something very wrong with the development of their brains to begen with and the second chance they received by avoiding the death penalty was a heck of a lot more than their victims got...so there's your second chance.
I agree with brain development at the early stages of life but if these kids can kill as they did with an undeveloped brain is it worth the risk to release them back to the public and hope that they learned a lesson..
like I said would you want them living next door to you and your family ?

Godfather.

Better Dan

I don't think the examples in the story deserve second chances. Their second chance was to put the weapon down and go home, but instead they chose to kill. Let them rot in prison...especially this person: Tremble, then 14, rode his bike to an elderly couple's home in Au Gres, Mich., in 1997, shot the two in the head as they slept and stole their car.

14 is old enough to know what murder is. Not sure why these people think their freedom is worth more than the lives they took. It's not!