When our justice system sentence 13-year-olds to life in prison without the possibility of parole, they have decided that the child's life was worthless from the day of birth.
What's even more morbid is many citizens in the Republic embrace the philosophy of "juvenile lifers." Some will argue that, "They did the crime, they must do the time," but the same individuals don't factor in the lack education, social economic background, mental disorders, and the circumstances of the crime that would motivate a child to commit an act of violence that would cause them to spend the rest of their lives imprisoned.
Even more haunting is 18% of juvenile lifers are from Pennsylvania which leads the nation, and some critics to think that number will increase over the next decade if we don't address and change these sentencing policies.
Conversely, "I believe the children are our future" rings hollow when many of their futures will be permanently spent as a resident at an already overcrowded penal system.
Anthony P. Johnson
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Really sad. There are so many parents as well as educators who fail these children & then these juveniles as well as the rest of society pays the high price. Shame on us all for not doing better by them.
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