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H.R. 4300, The Juvenile Justice Accountability and Improvement Act of 2007 (24 comments ↓ | 3 wiki edits)
H.R. 4300 would establish a meaningful opportunity for parole for each child offender sentenced to life in prison.
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Visitor Comments
tena newsome
everyone deserves a chance to be heard especially a minor that got lwop. thats cruel and unusual punishment.
Bill Torbeck
Life without parole maybe suitable for some adults.A juvenile spending the rest of their life incarcerated without a parole review should not be tolerated in our so called forgiving society. Charles Manson gets a mandated parole review every five years???????? What are we waiting for?
Rhonda Fausett
We as a country need to change the system, it simply doesn't work. Juvenile life with out is unfair! You can not expect a child to make the correct choices and if they do punish them as children not adults. We need change and we need it now. Give them a chance, the deserve it.
Kris Mangione
As a mother with a son in prison of course I am for this bill. Also for the other 2,499 juveniles in prison all over the country. Watch the video on the web site http://hr4300.com. Ask yourself the same questions; are you the same today as you were at 14 or 16? There has to be some relief for these kids who were thrown away.
sean
see what 800 supporters say, sign http://www.thepetitionsite.com/6/petition-in-support-of-hr4300---ending-juv...
Tim
I feel that this bill pays no regard to the victims, when do they get a second chance? Many ask am I the same now as I was as 14 or 15? My answer is yes I may be different but I still know as I did when I was 14 or 15 that taking another life is wrong and that I would go to jail when caught. I ask how is it unfair to sentence a cold blooded killer to life in prison? In my case they planned for days on how they lure some to a vacant house stab them to death and steal there car. The intent was murder for a car they both confessed to that. Not just a stabbing a brutal stabbing 26 times with a 6 in filet knife and then almost decapitated my brother head. My brother only 28 at the time of his brutal death doesn't get a second chance. I don't get a second chance why should the ones who took his life??? I feel that know one has even given thought to us victims, what about are rights? should I be sentenced a life sentence of wondering if my brothers murderer will be freed.
Kris
In response to Tim. I am so sorry for your family. I completely understand what you are saying. It isn't fair and "Yes", people do think about the victims & their families. I think about the female victim/family and her daughter everyday. She has grandchildren that she didn't get to see grow up.
There are juveniles in prison for Life without Parole who didn't committ the crime. They were charged with complicity, at the scene, but didn't participate. Some had no idea a crime was going to be committed. These are the ones they most likely will look at upon gaining a parole hearing.
Kathy
Years ago I was the victim of a very serious crime. Now I work in a prison. I want to tell you that thoughtless youth can, and many do mature to become individuals who know right from wrong, who go to work at their jobs in the prison every day earning pennies, but work hard. I've seen prisoners who take care of the sick and aging prisoners with compassion. There are JLWOP who have graduated from high school and college in prison. There are JLWOP whose lives have changed so dramatically that they deserve to be considered for parole. Even if I was their victim. I was taught as a child that 2 wrongs don't make a right. My heart goes out to the families of victims, who will never have a chance to regain their loved one. But to deny juveniles even the right to appear before a parole board is wrong. Each inidivual must be considered, case by case.
Andre Turner
support HR4300! I personally know someone who has life without parole. Everyone has made a decision in their lives that has had negative consequences.
shelly oladeru
yes i do support this bill, and myself does know someone who has life withoud parole, and was just a kid when it happened and i think he derserves a 2nd chance, please God i really know your the only one that can make this happen. I pray for the ones that really deserve this one.
Clare O'Keefe
The brains of children and adolescents are still developing and this affects how they make decisions and how they evaluate different situations.
Locking up a 13 year old child in prison for the rest of his life without the chance of parole is unconstitutional.
The United States is the only country to have this severe sentencing for minors.
Jody
In response to Kris,
You may think of the poor victims in your case but my problem is that every hearing that is held every news story and any other thing is all one sided. When do any off you hear of the victims?? We still suffer and now thanks to all this legislation we get to suffer some more. I just want the victims side heard.
Magilv
This is the BIGGEST BLACK Mail Bill
I have ever seen.Thank you to Tim & Jody for your so true feelings. You are not alone. Once the Victim is dead and buried, the perpetrator becomes the victim and no more thoughts are given to the
real victim and their loved ones who must suffer for life. My husband was held down and brutally beaten over the head, receiving 25 skull fractures with a metal pipe by a 15 yr old and a 16 year old juvenile.The 15 year old has been out for 6 years, the 16 year old received the appropriate sentence of LWOP. Now I have to worry about the bleeding heart liberals managing to get the killers sentence reduced. My husband does not get his sentence reduced. Where have we gone so wrong in America that has become okay to commit murder and expect to walk the streets again?
The day our loved ones can walk the face of the earth again is the day the Perpetrator can be released.
Visit www.jlwopvictims.org
Janice P. Zalobsky
Why bother putting them in jail at all? Just tell them to be stop that and be good. Give me a break. If they're old enough to do the crime; they're old enough to do the time. Maybe it will give pause to the next gang banger who is thinking of a violent act.
Carol Krieger
I ask the question all the time, What makes these criminals think they should have freedom walking the streets after they have committed such awful crimes? They should have to pay with life in prison for the life they have taken from their love ones. LWOP is the way it should be. They do not deserve to be free for the citizins to have to worry about them committing another crime. There was no 2nd chance for the person they murdered. Why should the murder get one, no matter how young they were? Vote no on this Bill
elktaker
I am sick and tired of the whining about how unfair it is for someone to be in jail the rest of their life for a crime they committed. NO ONE is out there lobbying for the victim of the crime. WHEN does the DEAD victim EVERY get a second chance? These bottom dwelling scum suckers are lucky they weren't put to death.
LWOP is way to easy on these poor little murderers, rapists, car theives and drug dealers.
Survivor
In 1991, my youngest son was murdered by a 15 year old boy with a record dating back to AGE 5! Because of the laws at the time (@ that time LWOP wasn't an option for juveniles), this boy was given only 8 years - the maximum allowed then. The judge even apologized to us & said he wished he could lock him up for life. But my family & I are only the tip of the iceberg.
"They're 'just children'?" Even children know right from wrong. The juvenile criminals CHOSE to commit their crimes - their victims HAD NO CHOICE.
"It's 'cruel & unusual punishment'? Cruel & unusual punishment is the survivors of the innocent victims having to visit their loved ones the only way they can - at the cemetery.
"They've reformed/graduated high school/gone to college/helped other prisoners etc. etc."? As a correctional officer once told us: "Yes, they 'found God' while incarcerated - & they left Him in the broom closet when they were let out." Check the recidivism rates.
Rosemary Mulligan
Each case needs to be heard on its own merit. However, once convicted of murder, Do those individuals, that know right from wrong, and choose to take anothers life belong amongst society? The pain, anquish, and suffering of those left behind dictates society be protected from those who made the choice to murder.
Elaine M. Rondeau
We say NO to H.R.4300.
more deliberation is necessary.
Our daughter was murdered by two recidivist criminals, who began their lives of crime at the age of 12 and 14. They murdered our daughter at the age of 31 and 34 after all of these years of crime.
The male murderer committed 52 crimes in a 17 year period and beat a murder rap when he was 17.
No rehabilitation was given to them.
Society, as well as these two should be held accountable.
The justice system is broken and needs to be fixed.
NO, NO, NO TO H.R.4300.
Write to me at aammen@att.net and visit my web at www.rorpf.org for more dialogue on this serious problem.
Gordon/Father of Renee
No to H.R.4300
My family and I have received the Life Sentence, as well as 20,000 to 30,000 families each year for the past decade whose lives have been destroyed by these juvenile offenders.
They should have equal time; no difference between them and an adult.
Youth, even though not as experienced in life's problems as adults, STILL have the same responsibility of not killing.
If society would solve the problems which lead to youth committing crimes, such as early childhood education, parenting classes, after-school programs, poverty, unemployment, i.e. the vast discrepancy between the rich and the poor, perhaps these youth would not be led to a life of crime.
These juveniles who have committed heinous crimes SHOULD receive LWOP.
They crossed the line, they committed heinous crimes.
They should NEVER be allowed into society again.
Let's begin by focus on crime prevention in the first place, and NOT BE FOCUSING ON THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY CROSSED THE LINE.
Rick
I am a Conservative. I think people should take responsibility for their actions. You would think I would be opposed to this bill. But I'm not. You see, I've had my eyes opened to my "throw the key away" attitude because my brother is serving life without parole in Pennsylvania. He was 16 when he killed a 14 year old friend. 27 years ago. It was the first time he got in trouble with the law. He has been a model inmate, gotten a degree in jail, teaches other inmates, and has never been written up for one infraction in 27 years.
Why are juveniles tried as adults for murder, but if they steal a car they are juveniles? How does the crime change their age or mental development?
Yes, they did a terrible thing. They deserve punishment, no doubt. But it is wrong to think of them as adults simply because of the type of crime they committed.
And everybody, especially these people who made such a big mistake in their youths, deserves a chance for forgiveness.
Elaine/Mother of Renee
Renee was a contributing citizen of the world and would have given the two who murdered her the shirt off her back, offered them a job, etc.
But instead these two who led lives of crime from age 12 and 14, a female and a male, chose to murder her for $8.00 for their heroin habit and $300.00 from her ATM card. I firmly believe that juveniles who committ these crimes are behaving in no different way from adults. They deserve to be removed from society. Society also should be held accountable for the state of the union, i.e., the vast discrepancy between the haves and the have nots. Many of the comments state that their loved ones committed murder during youth and that they should be given another chance at life. WHAT CHANCE DID THEY GIVE OUR DAUGHTER or the hundreds of thousands murdered over the past decade. NO TO H.R. 4300, keep them put away forever. If they teach others while in prison, good, that is their contribution to society and they should stay there in prison.
Starr
My position is to keep the violent offenders in jail where they belong. These people will never be rehabilitated to safely live among our society.
Kris
In response to ALL who are against the HR 4300 bill. I repeat !!!!
There are juveniles in prison for Life without Parole who DIDN'T COMMITT THE CRIME OF MURDER. They were charged with complicity, for being at the scene, but didn't participate. Some had no idea a crime was going to be committed.
These are the ones they most likely will look at upon gaining a parole hearing.
My heart goes out to all of the victim's families.