I Don 't Do Die Young

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.

Not one person, was created to be perfect beings, but children are pure and innocent and their mental and critical thinking skills are not fully developed and strong enough to handle adult prisons. On the other hand, children are most likely to vividly remember delinquent actions they performed whether it was done intentionally in a “heat of the moment” action such as Charlie’s case in Bryan Stevenson’s “Just Mercy” or unintentionally due to peer-pressure or self-protection in most juveniles’ case. Moreover, the justice system is hypocritical to their own children, “Protect the young” but places the young in harm’s way. Children in adult prisons are prone to rape, suicide and assault than in juvenile detention centers according to studies on juvenile suicide in adult institutions and youth facilities in the1980’s. The studies indicated that “the suicide rate of juveniles in adult jails is 7.7 times more likely than of juvenile detention centers. In 1989, five times as many youth held in adult prisons answered yes to the question "has anyone attempted to sexually attack or rape you" than those held in juvenile institutions while about 10% of the youth interviewed reported a sexual attack, or rape attempt.(Zeidenberg).Another factor of why children should not be tried as adults is that youths are easily victimized and beaten up by inmates and most likely staff, they are also for example

Susan Kuklin’s book, No Choirboy: Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row, digs into the lives of teenagers who have been given the death sentence before the age of 18. Kuklin analyzes the lives of 4 teenagers: Roy Burgess, Mark Melvin, Nanon Williams, and Napoleon Beazley; all death row inmates. This book gives people an uncensored and raw view on what it really means to be a teenager on death row… from the perspective of the inmates themselves.

In the article “On Punishment and Teen Killers” by Jennifer Jenkins asserts that teens are becoming more violent and starting commit more crimes because of the national television they watch.Jenkins tells the reader about “JLWOP” (Juvenile Life Without Parole) and how kids are being sentenced to life in prison without parole.Some people are trying to advocate to minimize the offender culpability because of their age.While kids are getting sentenced to life without parole, this disproves juvenile advocates reliance on the undeveloped brain.Some juvenile offenders truly understand what the victim family go through and how long it takes them to recover.There were millions of dollars spent to end JLWOP and to set convicted murderers free.

Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption is a story of innocents sentenced to death row (2015). As an attorney at law, he sheds light on the fraudulent Criminal Justice System with the corruption of cops and prison guards, bribed witnesses, and paid off judges. Written in first person, Stevenson’s (2015) account depicts 50 years of debasement of the Criminal Justice System. Telling the accounts of corruption in first person and using dialogue that included the actual victims conversations allowed his readers to be invested in the story. His vocabulary and the stories used, made the reader realize that corruption takes place in the United States Criminal Justice System both in history and continues through today.

The novel, Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson covers many aspects of the legal system, including Stevenson’s quest to get prisoners who were convicted as adolescents out of adult prison. Through Stevenson’s experiences, he sees first hand experience of children that are sent to adult prisons. Specifically he saw how the prisoners who were convicted as children revert to a very low mental state and often have a great deal of trouble readjusting if they are even remotely capable of doing so. One of these experiences that Bryan Stevenson encountered was with a young fourteen year old named Charlie and the impacts of an adult world in a child’s head. Children should never be pushed into adult prisons or receive adult punishments because of their lack of clear understanding of difficult situations.

In the film 15 to Life: Kenneth’s Story by Nadine Pequeneza the account of Kenneth Young appealing his sentence of four life terms without the possibility of parole is detailed. Young was only 15 years-old when he was charged as an adult for armed robbery and sentenced to life behind bars. Why is it okay for the justice system to charge adolescents as adults? As a nation we can’t logically expect children to be held to the same standards as adults and do so only when criminal courts deem it fit. Charging children as adults for any crime is not only a far cry from being a deterrent but it is also fails to provide justice for all of the individuals involved.

The second half of Bryan Stevenson’s book, Just Mercy, brought successful conclusions to the stories that were introduced in the first half. Stevenson also introduced multiple new cases that displayed just how much his little law firm in Alabama has grown and changed the United States’ judicial system for the better. Stevenson mentioned that he had won a historic hearing that life-without-parole sentences for all children are unconstitutional, which changed the lives of many children and how they are treated today by courts in the United States. While he has saved many people from their wrongful convictions, their lives are never the same and the time they lost in prison can never be returned. This is why Stevenson started a fight that

“Teens Who Expect to Die Young Are More Likely to Commit Crime” gives readers a look into a study conducted by the University of Texas at Dallas. My first thought, my first question was, “What teenager wants to die?” As I read on, I found out that teens like Henderson feel death would be easier than the lives they live, the lives they think they’re destined to live, or being locked up. Henderson, who is 18, used to hope and pray he’d make it to age 21. He, along with thousands of teens across the country, face challenges

Stevenson also writes about teenagers, including Charlie, who are sentenced to life as adults and serve in horrible conditions. Charlie was 14 and tried as an adult for capital murder, and the man he killed had just beaten Charlie’s mother unconscious. The case of Charlie introduces Stevenson to mercy in the fact that an elderly white couple hears Stevenson speak at church and they want to help Charlie by paying for his GED and college education. The story of misrepresented and unfairly judged people continues and so does the story of Walter McMillan. The continued evolution of evidence and the overwhelming number of witnesses who provide McMillan with an iron clad alibi make you wonder how on earth he could have ever been found guilty and in the end, with tremendous effort and support from Stevenson and his team, McMillan is released and the DA drops all charges against him. The question I kept asking is how many men and women are in jail today because of bias and poor representation? Bryan Stevenson’s story is inspiring and it should challenge us to get closer to difficult subjects before we cast judgment.

As a young lawyer fresh out of law school Stevenson immediately takes risky and close to impossible cases on death row. Spending almost all of his time in prisons he finds an extreme passion for the rightful justice of prisoners who are waiting in a cell to reach the electric chair. This immediate bravery from Stevenson surprised me and inspired me all

Stevenson will reference other people and describes the crimes they had committed with the sentence they were given. These cases were, explained through Stevenson, examples of how our legal system holds corrupt individuals of that profession as well as the use of improper sentencing to those wrongfully convicted of the crimes they have and or haven’t done. Throughout the book we can see what Stevenson endures within his work life and social life. He encountered a confrontation with white police officers which then shined light on how the African American race were being treated based off their race which correlated to a specific stereotype. As an audience, we were left in the end with an understanding of how the McMillian case impacted Bryan Stevenson for the better and the worst.

Teenagers should be tried as adults. There are plenty of teens that are being tried as adults or are being considered being tried as adults. Even though the teens are underage which are younger than 18, they are still being considered for being tried as adults. Despite the fact that these teens are only teens, still underage, felonies committed by teens such as aggravated assault, rape, murder, and other malicious acts deserve consequences for what teens have done and should be considered for being tried as adults because it is diabolical and relentless to do acts like that, especially because it is from teens. Being a teen and breaking the law like that does not give the teens the right to commit felonies, and if still the teens are not given any consequences, it will then lead to acts of more crime.

If a juvenile, over fourteen has the ability and willingness to commit a violent crime they should be tried and punished as an adult. A fourteen year old knows right from wrong. He (or she) is able to tell whether they are committing a crime. If a juvenile is mature enough to commit an adult crime, they should be treated as an adult, and punished justly according to the adult law. The difference in age in two people should not determine their punishment if they have committed the same crime under the same or similar pretenses.

Many young adolescents who have committed horrendous crimes have been a huge topic amongst the Supreme Court. Whether young adolescents are viewed as innocent, naive children to the public, this not changed the fact they can commit brutal crimes. In spite of the fact that adolescents have committed brutal crimes such as murder, one needs to understand that their brains are not as fully developed as an adult brain would be. Adolescents should not be trialed to a life sentence or attend adult prisons; however, they should be punished for their actions and undergo rehabilitation programs to help them be prepared to fit in with the rest of society.