Cyntoia Brown Research Paper

Picture this…You’re nineteen years old with nowhere to call home, your mothers left you traumatised and permanently scarred. You’re alone in the big bad world. Fragile, vulnerable and powerless. Does any teenager really have life’s answers? Or are they aimlessly searching for them from somewhere or someone else? Cast yourself back to when you were nineteen, if someone had entered your life offering all the answers, don’t tell me you would’ve turned them away. Leslie Van Houten was just nineteen years old when she fell under infamous cult leader Charles Manson’s spell. She thought he could give her the answers everyone so desperately seeks at that tender age. A year after joining the ‘Manson Family’ Van Houten was involved in the 1969 murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. Under Manson’s orders Van Houten stabbed Rosemary approximately 16 times. She was found guilty of murder and is now serving life in prison. In September 2017 Van Houten was granted parole. She now faces a one-hundred-and-twenty-day review period. At the end, it will be decided whether or not she is fit for release. I believe that Leslie should walk free and be allowed a second chance at life.

In this summary response we are summarizing the article “On Punishment and Teen Killers”. In this article Jennifer Jenkins talks about her sister’s experience and how it was caused by a teenager. And what she is basically trying to make a claim on how teens do deserve to go to life sentences. But yet she does not have any experience since she is just a teacher.

Cyntoia Brown’s story is another sad example of male privilege and the valuing of a man’s life over a woman’s. Brown had a hard life growing up; she suffered from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and grew up in a very abuse home. When she was a teenager she ran away from home, which ultimately led to her entering a life of prostitution. After leaving home, she met a 24-year-old man named “Cut Throat” who abused her and forced into prostitution. When she was 16 her pimp sold her to a 43-year-old man who picked her up from a Sonic parking lot and brought her back to his house. Upon entering the house, Brown noticed a gun cabinet in the man’s room. She attempted to fight off the predator’s advances, but ultimately feared for her life and pulled out a gun and shot and killed the rapist. Cyntoia was arrested and charged with first-degree murder for killing the child molester who was attempting to rape her. The prosecution stated that Cyntoia did not kill him out of self-defense, but rather as an attempt to rob him since she took his wallet after shooting him. Brown has currently been in jail for over ten years and will not be given the possibility of parole until she is 69 years old. After the initial trial people were unhappy with the sentencing which led Tennessee to change their laws and ban mandatory life sentences for juveniles without parole. Recently, Brown’s case has been brought back into the spotlight due to many A-list celebrities tweeting about the incredible injustice.

Have you ever wondered why our justice system is so unfair? I am sure everyone would agree that someone who is a serial killer of infants and children deserves the death penalty even more so than someone who commits a lesser crime gets the death penalty as well. For example, a woman gets the death penalty for killing 7 men, but another woman does not get the death penalty for killing eleven plus infants and children. There is one woman behind my questioning. Throughout my research I decided to find a crime I never heard about before, which lead me to a woman named Genene Jones. Furthermore, I will discuss Jones’s life leading up to the events, the crimes she committed, as well as her life now.

Cristian’s mother, Biannela Susana, had left him and his two year old half brother, David, home alone. In the article “Cristian Fernandez,13-year-old Fla. boy, faces life in prison for allegedly murdering his 2-year-old half-brother” by Crimesider Staff states, “the toddler had a fractured skull, bruising to his left eye and a bleeding brain”(Staff) which indicated that Cristian had harmed/ beated his baby brother. Cristian had a rough childhood. His mother was only 12 when she had him, his “grandmother was taking care of him was holded up with cocaine in a motel room”(Staff), he was beaten by his stepfather, and sexually assaulted by a cousin. So he didn't have anyone. He was alone in this big world with no one to protect him or look after him. It was inevitable for him to kill someone. Cristian should be charged as an adult since he did murder a two year old however, he was emotionally and physically hurt and abused which must have played a factor him to kill his brother. Therefore, he shouldn't get life in prison but he should serve time. The article also illustrates that before the murder of David, Cristian had previously broke the 2 year-old's leg while wrestling. This should have set an alarm to the mother and keep an eye on both of them. The article states, “Cristian denied any plans or intent to kill his brother...a ‘flashback’ of the abuse by his stepfather as the motive for this

The decision whether the life sentence without parole is cruel and/or unusual punishment, is a world wide problem. On this article, Brown brings up cases about teenagers who have committee murder by accident or on purpose and how they should be punished. The reason why I want to use this article is for the disagreement I feel on this argument, how the brain hasn't develop and why the teens should take responsibility for its actions.

Gail Garinger in the article, Juveniles don’t deserve Life Sentences,claims that juveniles should not get a life sentence. Garinger supports her claims by first lists teens and young adults that have done terrible crimes. She then describes homicide as the worst crime,but explains how the Supreme Court won't give juveniles a life sentence for it. Lastly, the author explains how criminologists promoted a superpredator but how it never came to be. Garinger’s purpose is to inform people how kids don't deserve life sentences in order to inform people that they still have so much to live for. The author writes in a formal tone for the readers. This work is significant because it informed me on all the lives that have gotten life sentences.

A new and alarming trend that has been occurring in American society is the increase of violence committed by young women. The documentary Girlhood offers an insight on the emotional, psychological, and social reasoning behind the girl’s actions. Girlhood focuses on the life of two young juveniles, Shanae Owens and Megan Jensen both incarcerated for violent crimes. Shanae and Megan both experienced similar circumstances that yielded different outcomes. They were followed for a period of about three years which allowed viewers to really see what kind of role the justice system, family and peers have on the success of an at risk juvenile.

Rodney Hulin was only 16 years old when he was charged with arson and sent to an adult prison for eight years. During his time in prison he spent a year with a clean record but then was transferred to another person without reason or notice to his parents. He was 17 at the time and during his first week in prison he sent his father a letter saying “"Dad, I'm really scared, scared that I will die in here. Please pray for me. Pray that I will get my job changed, sent to a hospital, get out of here alive, and that I will get out on parole...I want to live with you when I get out, if I get out alive" (XXX). The father did not know what was going on but found out his son was raped and sodomized two days after he received his first letter. From being transferred to the new jail on

“Sentenced young: The story of life without parole for juvenile offenders” by Beth Schwartzapfel tells the story of two women: Jennifer Pruitt and Donnell Miracle and the sad truth behind life sentences

Gail Garinger, the author of “Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life Sentences,” argues that children should not be struck down for life because they commit the most vile and horrible crimes imaginable, based on the sole fact that they are still adolescents, and that they should be given the chance for parole and rehabilitation because they are not fully developed; therefore, in her article she shows exceptionally strong ethos to support her claim. Garinger first exposes her strong ethos by using the authority of the Supreme Court to exclaim why the youth shouldn’t be punished to a life sentence for homicide or manslaughter by saying, “the Supreme Court

Wes Moore,inmate, had made many terrible choices in his life. When he was young, he stole money from his mom, prioritized football over academics, stole money from his mom, and got into many fights with other children. One fight that he’d gotten into was with another young boy his age which he’d pulled out a knife on. This led seven year old

Jerilyn, a teenager within the ABC Primetime Video The Lost Children Behind Bars committed a variety of different minor crimes throughout her years ranging from trespassing, disorderly conduct, marijuana use, and habitual truancy (Emsnyc12, 2012). Along with these minor crimes, Jerilyn had also committed a very serious criminal offense of child molestation against her nephew, which led to her being put into the Adobe Mountain Juvenile Corrections Facility (Emsnyc12, 2012). With that being said, her criminal behavior can very much be attributed to substantial events that occurred within her life at a very young age. At six years old, Jerilyn was molested by her mother’s boyfriend and this lasted for an entire month. (Emsnyc12, 2012). Soon after this molestation occurred, various changes within Jerilyn’s life began to emerge, as one may suspect. She soon began to turn to crime as a way to deal with this terrible life event and began smoking marijuana, using alcohol, and skipping school as well as not coming home for long periods of time (Emsnyc12, 2012). Jerilyn being molested by her mother’s boyfriends had a profound impact on her life and can very much be a leading factor in her committing her own act of child molestation on her nephew, who was six at the time (Emsnyc12, 2012). From a very young age, after the molestation occurred, Jerilyn was emerged into a life of crime, with the final act of child molestation landing her in the Adobe Mountain Juvenile Corrections

A cyclops was a one-eyed monster. The first cyclopes were Arges, Steropes, and Brontes. They were the sons of Uranus and Gaea. These three cyclopes were locked in Tartarus by, Cronus and Uranus. After being released, they helped Zeus fight in the Titanomachy. Another cyclops who was more famous was Polyphemus. He was the son of Poseidon.

Cassiopeia is very interesting constellation with an extremely extraordinary story. Cassiopeia was the wife of an Ethiopian king named Cepheus. Cassiopeia was very beautiful and self-loving. Cassiopeia had promised that her daughter, Andromeda would marry Perseus but Cassiopeia had doubts about her promise. She then persuaded one of Poseidon’s sons, Agenor to interrupt the marriage ceremony and try to take Andromeda for himself. Agenor came with a huge army and a battle commenced. Cassiopeia in the battle started crying out “Perseus must die” but Perseus had a trick up his sleeve. He had just killed Medusa, a gorgon and he had kept her head. He showed the gorgon’s head to the wedding party and they immediately turned to stone, along