US : 13yo facing life without parole if guilty of murder committed at 11yo

[clippedgull]

If guilty then punishment is deserved, but life without parole?

Maybe for his age 30-40yrs?

Lawyers for a child in Pennsylvania who was 11 when he allegedly shot and killed his father's pregnant fiancee attempted today to persuade an appeals court not to try him as an adult under America's harsh system of juvenile justice.

Unless the lawyers for Jordan Brown who is now aged 13, can convince the judges to change tack, he will be tried in adult court and if convicted will serve an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole. He would become the youngest child in US history to be sentenced to be incarcerated forever.

The US is the only country where juveniles are serving life imprisonment without parole under the so-called "life means life" policy. Only the US and Somalia have refused to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which rules out life sentences with no chance of release for crimes committed before the age of 18.

Brown is accused of having killed Kenzie Houk, in February 2009 at her home in the countryside about 35 miles north-west of Pittsburgh. According to the prosecution, Brown shot her through the back of the head as she slept in her bedroom.

He is then alleged to have got on the school bus and gone to his elementary school as usual.

Houk, 26, was just two weeks away from her due date and her unborn child, who would have been called Christopher, died too. Brown has been charged with two counts of homicide.

Brown allegedly carried out the killing using his own hunting rifle, a shotgun designed specifically for children. The prosecution alleges that the killing was premeditated and they found residue from the gun on Brown's shoulder.

When he was first presented to court Brown was made to wear shackles around his wrists and ankles.

Human rights campaigners are protesting the treatment of Brown as an adult. Amnesty International said the move would be a violation of international law. "It is shocking that anyone this young could face life imprisonment without parole, let alone in a country which labels itself as a progressive force for human rights," said Susan Lee, head of the campaign's Americas operation.

The Sentencing Project, a Washington-based campaign, said no other country had juveniles serving life without parole. "That leads to only two conclusions: either kids in the US are far more violent than those in the rest of the world, or the US has developed uniquely harsh sentences."

At a federal level, the US penal system has been inching towards a more lenient approach to juvenile crime. In 2005 the US supreme court abolished the death penalty for under-18s.

Then last May it ruled that juveniles could not be subjected to life without parole for any crime other than homicide.

But that still leaves about 2,400 prisoners facing permanent imprisonment for homicides committed when they were children.

Pennsylvania, where all juveniles are automatically treated as adults unless a judge decides otherwise, heads the league table of 44 states that hand out the sentence, with about 450 cases.

Houk's death has divided the two families involved in their response to Brown's judicial treatment. The boy's father, Chris Brown, protests his son's innocence and says he has no idea what could await him.

"Try to explain to a 12-year-old what the rest of your life means. It's incomprehensible for him," he told ABC News last year.

The victim's mother, Deborah Houk, has pushed for the toughest sentence for the boy. "I can't stand this 'Oh, he's 11,' 'Oh, his clothes don't fit him,'" she told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review soon after her daughter's death. "He knew what he was doing. He killed my baby."

 

[Barrel of Fun]

There was a very interesting article in the Observer magazine a while ago about some high profile cases of young teens being put away for life and without parole. Scary stuff. I'll see if I can dig it out.

 

[bhaexpress]

To be honest whilst you can understand the anger of the victim's family I would hazard a guess that the accused is no rocket scientist and in fact really didn't understand the rammifications of his actions. Having him tried as an adult is ridiculous.

 

[bhaexpress]

There was a very interesting article in the Observer magazine a while ago about some high profile cases of young teens being put away for life and without parole. Scary stuff. I'll see if I can dig it out.

I've maintained for a long time now that the USA is in fact in many ways a Third World Country, this is just another example.

 

[Stoo82]

There is nothing free about 'the leaders of the free world'.

 

[clippedgull]

There was a very interesting article in the Observer magazine a while ago about some high profile cases of young teens being put away for life and without parole. Scary stuff. I'll see if I can dig it out.

Cheers BoF.

 

[itszamora]

To be honest whilst you can understand the anger of the victim's family I would hazard a guess that the accused is no rocket scientist and in fact really didn't understand the rammifications of his actions. Having him tried as an adult is ridiculous.

I'm inclined to agree. It also scares me a lot that they apparently make guns especially designed for children.

But no, better gun control couldn't possibly be a good idea, could it?

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Took a while to find. Good old google.

Not quite how I remembered it, but interesting nonetheless. Life without hope: America's child prisoners | World news | The Guardian

Dupure was 17 when the crime for which she is convicted took place. She is one of 2,270 juveniles across the United States who were sentenced to life without parole, a punishment second only in severity to the death penalty. All were under 18 when they committed the crimes. Six of them were 13, and 50 of them were 14 - an age at which US law forbids them to drive a car, give medical consent, vote, leave school, sign a contract, drink alcohol in a bar, serve on a jury, be drafted in the army, live away from home. Yet they were tried as adults in an adult court and given no possibility of a second chance.

 

[clippedgull]

Took a while to find. Good old google.

Edit: That is not it but interesting nonetheless. Life without hope: America's child prisoners | World news | The Guardian

!! Looks interesting, cheers, just about to have dinner will read it later this evening.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

It was the article I was looking for. I was being dense.

 

[clippedgull]

FRONTLINE: when kids get life: watch the full program online | PBS a program to stream which looks interesting on the subject of kids getting life in the US.

subtitled too

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Sweet. Thank you very much. Particularly the subtitle reference! I have taught you well

 

[bhaexpress]

So many people in this country think of the US as Disneyland, New York City, Hollywood and so on but that represents a very small part of a very large country. Seeing the slums that exist in all big cities is a start. I was amazed at the number of beggars in San Francisco when I went there. A drive past a trailer park is another sign of sheer poverty. They have a barely functioning welfare system and a virtually non existant medical system for the poor, something like 30,000,000 Americans have no health care at all. That's more than a third of the population of this country, that's a figure that doesn't include the large number of illegal workers there. The gun issue has been heard over and over again but let's fact it, what can you say about a country that voted George W. Bush into power not once but twice ? The fact that that complete idiot Sarah Palin has so many fans is yet another example.

One other thing, they might have an Afro American President now but a woman President ? That's a long way off. They have no openly gay politicians in high office and you can bet that there is no way a non Christian let alone an atheist would ever run the country.

 

[Peever]

O my neighbours to the south. How you never cease to amaze the world. These are the same people who tomorrow will talk about how over crowded their prison system is and how much of a drain on federal money it is. Then they go and lock up a 13 year old for life. If he lives to the average age which is around 75 I think that means they will have to support him for 62 years..... No wonder they have no money. Also, a shotgun for kids? Really? I cant say Im too surprised as having lived in america for a year and going across the border on a regular basis that Americans LOVE their guns.

 

[Lewes' best seagull]

So many people in this country think of the US as Disneyland, New York City, Hollywood and so on but that represents a very small part of a very large country. Seeing the slums that exist in all big cities is a start. I was amazed at the number of beggars in San Francisco when I went there. A drive past a trailer park is another sign of sheer poverty. They have a barely functioning welfare system and a virtually non existant medical system for the poor, something like 30,000,000 Americans have no health care at all. That's more than a third of the population of this country, that's a figure that doesn't include the large number of illegal workers there. The gun issue has been heard over and over again but let's fact it, what can you say about a country that voted George W. Bush into power not once but twice ? The fact that that complete idiot Sarah Palin has so many fans is yet another example.

One other thing, they might have an Afro American President now but a woman President ? That's a long way off. They have no openly gay politicians in high office and you can bet that there is no way a non Christian let alone an atheist would ever run the country.

You're right. Apart from pockets of intelligence, New York and California (because they have more foreign influence) the 'good ol' USA' is mainly ignorant and large parts are in poverty. Those people have certainly not benefited from the right wing capitalist ideals that the country lives on.

Perhaps the lack of history (European-settler history) has contributed to this because it hasn't built up a proper class system.

The Gun ownership issue just proves my point.

While I dislike this country's obsession with the US I cannot help be fascinated by the country. Strange.

 

[ATFC Seagull]

I give it another hour or so before Bushy, Jimbo et al are on here saying we should follow their lead.

 

[User removed 4]

I give it another hour or so before Bushy, Jimbo et al are on here saying we should follow their lead.

We should follow their lead.

 

[User removed 4]

Obviously every case should be judged on its merits, but it does seem harsh to lock up a child for life with no parole, not something i could agree to, having said that, i think the jamie bulger killers got off with far too little time served over here.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Obviously every case should be judged on its merits, but it does seem harsh to lock up a child for life with no parole, not something i could agree to, having said that, i think the jamie bulger killers got off with far too little time served over here.

Difficult one really when it comes to sentencing a minor.

Obviously a long sentence it is not going to act as a deterrent as I very much doubt minors are thinking about being caught/punishment or perhaps don't understand, fully, the ramifications of their actions. Their formative years were/are spent in prison. When, assuming they serve no danger to the public, is a good time to release someone that has spent half their life in prison, but only just reached the tender age of 21 or so?

I guess it depends what you want from their spell in prison and what purpose it serves.

 

[Lyndhurst 14]

So many people in this country think of the US as Disneyland, New York City, Hollywood and so on but that represents a very small part of a very large country. Seeing the slums that exist in all big cities is a start. I was amazed at the number of beggars in San Francisco when I went there. A drive past a trailer park is another sign of sheer poverty. They have a barely functioning welfare system and a virtually non existant medical system for the poor, something like 30,000,000 Americans have no health care at all. That's more than a third of the population of this country, that's a figure that doesn't include the large number of illegal workers there. The gun issue has been heard over and over again but let's fact it, what can you say about a country that voted George W. Bush into power not once but twice ? The fact that that complete idiot Sarah Palin has so many fans is yet another example.

One other thing, they might have an Afro American President now but a woman President ? That's a long way off. They have no openly gay politicians in high office and you can bet that there is no way a non Christian let alone an atheist would ever run the country.

Can’t really disagree with any of that. But I still prefer living in the States to living in the UK.

The gun issue has never really bothered me, you can find trouble anywhere in the world if you go looking for it - it’s the incessant religious bullshit that really gets on the proverbials. Although there are mutterings that Obama is a closet atheist.

You're right. Apart from pockets of intelligence, New York and California (because they have more foreign influence) the 'good ol' USA' is mainly ignorant and large parts are in poverty. Those people have certainly not benefited from the right wing capitalist ideals that the country lives on.

Fortunately I live in one of the ‘pockets of intelligence’ as, I am sure, do all the other NSCers who reside in the USA.