I heard on the BBC that in four US states, including Colorado - because
- District Attorneys (prosecutors) are elected, and
- there are votes in being tough on crime, and
- District Attorneys have the discretion to order that children may be tried as adults, and
- there is a crime of "felony murder" - taking part in a crime at which a murder is committed, and
- the sentence for murder is life without parole
- there are are men in prison for the rest of their lives because they were at a crime where a murder was committed when they were as young as 14.
One helped his friend clean up after the friend had killed his mother who had been physically and sexually abusing the friend for years.
One planned to trick someone buying a gun by keeping the money and the gun, waved the gun and accidentally shot the man.
The hopelessness of these men's lives can only be imagined.
-------------
Also on BBC, the rate of imprisonment for Aboriginals in New South Wales is 16 times that of whites.
Yes, Shuggy it's terrible. Some US crime punishments are downright cruel. I remember the case of John Paul Penry, a man with mental retardation and an IQ of 50 or something like that, who was sentenced to death penalty for allegedly brutally raping, beating, and stabbing a woman to death. Last I heard his sentence was overturned due to the mental retardation factor but I think a jury sent him again to the death row. He has three death sentences or something like that. I couldn't believe it. Penry has the mental capacity of a 6 years old. I even wonder if he actually commited the crime. He could have been framed.[/list]
