Sunday 24 April 2011

Breaking News - LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT PAROLE CHILDREN IN AMERICA


In America, the federal government and 44 states impose LWOP for children, but only 39, in fact, use it. These sentencing policies for children are barbaric. ....The rush to try more and more children as adults began in the 1980s when the country was gripped by hysteria about an adolescent crime wave that never materialized. Joe Sullivan, the petitioner in Sullivan v. Florida, was sentenced to life without parole in 1989 — when he was just 13 — after a questionable sexual battery conviction. His two older accomplices testified against the younger, mentally impaired boy. The case of Terrance Graham a learning disabled child — born to crack-addicted parents — Mr. Graham was on probation in connection with a burglary committed when he was 16 when he participated in a home invasion. He, too, had older accomplices. He was never convicted of the actual crime but was given life without parole for violating the conditions of his probation. In one of the most shocking cases of the courtroom on record, two Pennsylvania judges have been charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers.
This is a case where literally thousands of kids lives were tossed aside in order for a couple of judges to make some money. Among the offenders were teenagers who were locked up for months for stealing loose change from cars, writing a prank note and possessing drug paraphernalia. Many had never been in trouble before. Some were imprisoned even after probation officers recommended against it.
Troubled children in need of self honest assistence and support that went unnoticed. It is insupportable to conclude, as the courts did, that children who committed crimes when they are so young were beyond rehabilitation. The laws under which they were convicted violate basic human rights standards as well as violated the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
There is widespread agreement among child development researchers that young people who commit crimes are very likely to reform their behavior and have a great chance of rehabilitation. How can we hold these children accountable when we ourselves are not accountable for what we have accepted and allowed to exist within this world. Stand Up and face the shit that is going on within and as our world. Much change is necessary that requires self direction and self responsibility within self forgiveness and self honesty!
Support an Equal Money System for All from Birth till Death as a Solution- to reduce behaviours related to our current broken money system.
In America, the federal government and 44 states impose LWOP for children, but only 39, in fact, use it. Here's the Breakdown:
-- Indiana allows it from age 16; -- permitting it from age 15 are Louisiana and Washington; -- from age 14 are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Utah, and Virginia; -- from age 13 are Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Wyoming; -- from age 12 are Missouri and Montana; -- from age 10 are South Dakota and Wisconsin; -- Nevada allows it from age 8; and -- 13 states permit it at any age, including Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. For News Sources: see description of video and Interactive State map link to see your locaton.
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Background Music: A Piano, by Fidelis Spies, Desteni Chill
News Sources:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/whenkidsgetlife/etc/map.html - Interactive map
http://www.endjlwop.org/the-issue/
http://current.com/news/89806725_judge-took-2-6-million-in-payoffs-to-put-kid...

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