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From The Sydney Morning Herald:
“The United States has far more juveniles serving life terms than any other country - 2387…life terms have fallen disproportionately on non-white children, who are 10 times more likely than white children to be given life without parole… ‘harsh sentences dispensed in adult courts do not take into account the lessened culpability of juvenile offenders…’”
Where is God’s mercy here in God’s Own (New) Chosen Land? Of course, number two in number of Lifer-Kids is God’s (Original) Chosen Land: Israel.
At least He is consistent.
It would be so much better for all if we could leave behind the savagery of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” that the Abrahamic religions all teach. Truly, I do see a correlation between Abrahamic teachings and the lack of compassion shown to the weak, the troubled, the guilty.
What can be done with these kids? Here in Texas, a young man of 25 is trying to be released from prison. He was sentenced to life at age 12 for some savage crime. After more than half of his lifetime in my state’s wonderful penitentiary system – what are the odds that, no matter what his true condition was at age 12, he can be anything other than a merciless predator if he were to be freed?
The mistake was the original sentence. There is ample data to support that the human brain is not fully developed until the early twenties (at which point, sadly, it begins to deteriorate). By what justice can a child of 8, or 10, or 12 be locked up for the rest of their lives, no matter what the crime?
Children are NOT adults. There is a place for retributive justice, but such justice is not for children.
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