Re: We will Survive

On Saturday 15 September 2001 01:29 am, MacWheel99@aol.com wrote:
> Other nations have similar philosophies about letting juvenile criminals
> off easy.
> I see in the newspaper that a hacker was recently convicted in Canada, of
> breaking into scores of computers in several nations.
> The penalty was 8 months in juvenile detention (not jail or prison) and $
> 165.00
> This person is 17 years old.
> It seemed to me that the sentence was extremely light.

You are completely wrong.

I live in California, USA. Here, there are different levels of prisons.
Minimum security is Level 1, up to maximum at Level 4. There are special
housing units that are sometimes called level 5, but are not classified that
way within the California Department of Corrections. They are SHU programs
within Level 4 prisons.

There is also the California Youth Authority for housing juvinile offenders.

Housing of inmates is based on their time of incarceration. In other words,
an offender who is sentenced to 25-life would tend to be housed in a Level 4
prison, but an offender who is sentenced to 1 or 2 years would be in a Level
1. Thus, similar levels of offenders tend to be housed together. Of course,
this breaks down in the case of the many short term prisoners who were caught
of only minor offenses even though they had committed greater crimes.

But in the CYA, there is no such distinction, all offenders are housed the
same. Gangs have as much control as in Level 3 and 4 prisons. Abuses are
high. Even a short sentence in the CYA is likely to change a person forever.
Unfortunately, not for the better.

But I am astonished when I see what I feel is such great ignorance
surrounding child sentencing. Do you really feel a child has the same
understandings and mental process as an adult? If a four year old kills
another child, should that four year old be executed? Imprisoned for life?
What?

We have realized in our society that children really do not understand the
full impact of their decisions. That is why we make their parents liable for
much of what they do and do not allow them to enter into contractual
agreements. But when the same child, who is not yet capable of buying a CD
player on payments, makes a horrible mistake we suddenly feel they are
completely in control of their faculties and sentence them to life.

Don't get caught up in the idiocy of thinking that long sentencing will stop
kids from commiting crimes. Children are not without intellect, but they lack
the perspective necessary to understand what long term affects really are.

My children were/are among the best in the world. Capable, well mannered,
good grades, never in trouble. During their teenage years I was so totally
thankful that I had such wonderful children. But it used to surprise me
sometimes when we'd be talking that their perspective on things would be so
different. Small things would mean the whole world to them. If this person or
that didn't talk to them or notice them, the world would end.

In the US now, almost every state has laws allowing children to be judged
differently based on the severity of the crime. _That_ is insane. As if
somehow a child must have a greater understanding of the impact of their
actions if they decided to do the wrong thing than if they decided to do the
right thing (keep in mind that if they decided not to commit a crime, they
still would not be allowed to buy a CD player on payments).

The problem is not the length of sentencing, but that the time of
incarceration does nothing, not one thing, to try to teach them a different
understanding of behavior than they had when they entered. There are  so many
criminal influences inside which push a child in the direction of greater
crime, it is a miracle that any at all might come out of incarceration and
not go on to commit more crime.

--
Chris Rehm
javadisciple@earthlink.net

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart...
...Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other
commandment greater than these. Mark 12:30-31