BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: We have a powerful story today about punishment for juveniles who commit crimes. The Supreme Court has thrown out the death penalty for such young people, but in 44 states they can still be sentenced to life in prison without parole. Is that just for children – even for the worst crimes? Tim O’Brien reports from Tampa, Florida.
TIM O’BRIEN: Twenty-three-year-old Kenneth Young is serving life in prison with no possibility of parole for a series of hotel robberies in and around Tampa, Florida. It was June of 2000. Young had just turned 15 and was acting at the direction of 25-year-old Jacques Bethea, a neighborhood drug dealer with a long arrest record. Bethea would hold the gun. Young would take the money:
KENNETH YOUNG: The only thing he told me to do was get the money and the tapes, and that was it.
O’BRIEN: What tapes?
Mr. YOUNG: Like video tapes from the video cameras.
O’BRIEN: The security cameras?
Mr. YOUNG: Yes, sir.
O’BRIEN: And you did that?
Mr. YOUNG: Yes, sir.
O’BRIEN: Young says he had little choice. His mother was addicted to crack cocaine and had stolen drugs from Bethea. He believed her life was in danger.
Mr. YOUNG: He threatened to hurt my Momma.
O’BRIEN: What did he say he’d do?
Mr. YOUNG: Kill her.
Mr. YOUNG: Yes, sir.
O’BRIEN: Young’s mother, who says she’s been off drugs for more than three years, blames herself for the fix her son is in.
O’BRIEN: If you didn’t go along?
STEPHANIE YOUNG: Yes, I do, I do, because if it wasn’t for the drugs, me being on drugs, then my son wouldn’t be where he’s at today.
O’BRIEN: Young is being held at a maximum security prison in central Florida. Under Florida law, juveniles charged with serious crimes are tried as adults, and serious crimes — like armed robbery — can bring life in prison. And in the courtroom of Judge J. Rogers Padgett, being a child didn’t seem to help. It can even hurt the child who behaves like one, as Kenneth Young did.
Judge J. ROGERS PADGETT (Hillsborough County, Florida Circuit Court): So what we see is what we get in the way of a defendant. We get a person who shows no remorse. We get a person who is smiling in court, thinks it’s funny. We have a person who, while he is under consideration for a life sentence, is flipping signals to people in the gallery.
O’BRIEN: He’s only 15, barely.
Judge PADGETT: We have a person who gives no appearance of deserving any slack whatsoever and sentence him. So we give him a life sentence.
O’BRIEN: Enter law professor Paolo Annino, who runs the Children in Prison Project at Florida State University. Annino has been trying for years to get the Florida legislature to allow parole consideration for all juvenile offenders in the state to give them a second chance, his arguments as much moral as they are legal.
(to Prof. Paolo Annino): Is it your position that no juvenile should be sentenced to life without parole?
Professor PAOLO ANNINO (Florida State University): Oh, absolutely, and I think we’re immoral, ultimately, as a nation. This is no different from slavery or other major moral issues. Placing children in adult prisons for life is a death sentence for children. Do we want to do that as a society? Do we want to ignore our Western traditions? I mean, we do have Western traditions, and one part of our Western traditions is called redemption, and for many people in our culture redemption is an important value.
Judge PADGETT: There are some crimes that these people have committed that simply have no redemption. The victim and the public in general who know about the crime are looking for retribution.
O’BRIEN: It’s all about retribution.
Judge PADGETT: Retribution, right.
O’BRIEN: According to Human Rights Watch, the United States is the only country in the world that regularly sentences juvenile offenders to life in prison without parole. There are now more than 2,500. Pennsylvania has the most with 444. All but these six states allow life without parole for those under 18 at the time of their crimes.
Most of the crimes that bring life in prison without parole are far worse than Kenneth Young’s armed robberies. Most involved murder, often the murder of other children — crimes that shock the conscience and break the heart.
DAWN ROMIG (testifying): Good morning. My name is Dawn Romig.
O’BRIEN: In Pennsylvania, a Senate committee held hearings last October to consider doing away with life sentences for juvenile offenders. Lawmakers got an earful from opponents like Dawn Romig, whose 12-year-old daughter had been murdered by 17-year-old Brian Bahr.
Ms. ROMIG (testifying): We learned that Brian had made a list. It was called 23 things to do to a girl in the woods: “Beat her, check; rape her, check; kill her, check.” Everything on that list was carried out. It was an adult act he planned and executed. Why should these juveniles not get life in prison? Age cannot excuse what they have done.
JODI DOTTS (testifying): I never got to say goodbye to Kimmie. I never got to see her in a casket. I now talk to her at her grave still, 10 years later, on Mother’s Day. I’d also like to add, as I was sitting here listening to people saying they need second chances, my daughter didn’t have a second chance. She wasn’t given that choice whether to live or to die and I’m here to fight to make sure that these juveniles do not get released. Thank you.
O’BRIEN: What do you say to the parents of a child — whose child is murdered?
Prof. ANNINO: Well, it’s tragic and it’s very difficult, and I turn to a group that I’m associated with, and it’s called Mothers Against Murderers Association — and their children have been killed
O’BRIEN: MAMA Inc., a remarkable support group in West Palm Beach. Seventy-three women, all of whom have lost a child to murder, meet at this storefront office every other Thursday. The walls are lined with the photographs—the mother with her lost child.
On this day, Paula Bowe will be joining MAMA’s poignant photo gallery. Her daughter was shot to death by an ex-boyfriend—
PAULA BOWE: And he shot her. He shot her twice at point blank—once in the face, once in the neck.
O’BRIEN: What makes this association so remarkable is that, despite their grief, members do not seek retribution. Instead, they speak out against it.
ANGELA WILLIAMS (Founder, MAMA Inc): That’s one thing I tell my moms all the time: the only way they’re going to move on, they’re going to have to learn to forgive, you know, and if they don’t learn to forgive, then they’ll never be able to move on to the next step.
O’BRIEN: And Angela Williams should know.
Ms. WILLIAMS: I lost seven. I lost five nephews and two nieces in my family, and that motivates me to keep going to help others. Gun violence — all killed by guns.
O’BRIEN: MAMA is supporting Kenneth Young’s petition for clemency on the premise that any child should be given a second chance, even for murder.
O’BRIEN: Sylvia Manning is a preacher whose son was shot to death. She believes there’s hope for his killer, who has yet to be apprehended.
Reverend SYLVIA MANNING: I feel as though whoever did this to my son, they can be redeemed. I mean, if they know Jesus they can be redeemed.
O’BRIEN: It’s a religious issue to you?
Rev. MANNING: Not really religious. It’s what my heart says.
O’BRIEN: Linda Battle is a Palm Beach County deputy sheriff whose son Eric was run down and killed by a drug dealer.
LINDA BATTLE (Deputy Sheriff, Palm Beach County, FL): I worked in the jails, and I see the juveniles come in there for major crimes, and they’re just babies, and I don’t know what got them to that point.
O’BRIEN: What got them to that point? The U.S. Supreme Court, in rejecting the death penalty for juvenile offenders four years ago, relied in part on the growing body of psychiatric evidence that shows why children often fail to act as responsibly as adults,
Dr. RICHARD RATNER (American Psychiatric Association): In a nutshell, it is that the brain has not really matured. You do not really have an adult brain until you are in your early 20s.
O’BRIEN: You have actual, empirical evidence of that?
Dr. RATNER: We do.
O’BRIEN: Ratner says that magnetic resonance imaging — MRIs like this one — show that juveniles use a different part of the brain in the decision-making process than adults, making them more likely to act irrationally, less likely to appreciate the consequences of what they do.
Roughly 25 percent of the juvenile offenders serving life with no parole for murder never murdered anyone; rather, they were following the lead of an older adult. But under what’s known in the law as the felony murder rule, they are just as guilty as those who pull the trigger and often sentenced just as harshly.
Prof. ANNINO: They follow these older adults, and then the adults commit a murder. So the kid never has the gun in his hand. The kid never touches the gun. Many times—
O’BRIEN: But he’s still charged with murder?
Prof. ANNINO: He is charged with murder and gets the exact same sentence.
O’BRIEN: An accessory is as guilty as the principal?
Prof. ANNINO: In the state of Florida it is exactly the same, and that’s the felony murder rule, and we have it not just in Florida, but around the country, and the felony murder rules denies the individuality of the child. It ignores the fact that you have a child here, and you’re treating the child just like an adult.
O’BRIEN: Among those who have problems with that, we were surprised to find the judge who had sentenced Kenneth Young to four consecutive life terms. Judge J. Rogers Padgett said judges have no way of knowing what might become of the children who appear before them and, at least where the victim doesn’t die, their fate should be left to the Department of Corrections.
Judge PADGETT: If I went and talked to Kenneth, I might have sympathy, too, because I firmly believe the Department of Corrections ought to be given the latitude to determine when these people are ready to go. What do I know? At the time of sentencing, I’m doing a snapshot. So what do I know?
O’BRIEN: But in Florida, as in most states, it’s too late to turn back the clock. Even the sentencing judge cannot reopen this case decided more than seven years ago.
Ms. YOUNG: It’s hard. It’s so hard — the sleepless nights that I have had. And every time I go to see my child, and I have to leave that prison without my baby, it just takes something out of me. It hurts. It hurts so bad.
O’BRIEN: Unless Florida changes its law, or the governor commutes the sentence, Kenneth Young will die in prison. He will never get out.
For Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, I’m Tim O’Brien in Tampa, Florida.
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i do belive that he should have been punished for his crime, but i don’t think he should have been tried as an adult. our sorrounding sometimes influnces our actions and when you are a child it will have a much greater impact on you than it would if you were an adult. when the person above said he should have went to the police that easier said than done. i dont think robbery should earn you life in prison….if he didn’t take anyones life why should he loose his. to hash of a punishment.
children today are more vicious and irresponsible than ever before. I wouldn’t for a moment consider further empowering them with the promise of leniency.
These monsters had the brains to follow through on these heinous crimes. They have proven, at a young age, that they are not fit nor to be trusted to live amongst us. They’re where they belong; incarcerated away from the rest of us. When they can figure out how to give the victims a 2nd chance at life we can then talk about a 2nd chance for the perp. Until then, don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.
In other countries a male is consider an adult at 13 year old. At 13 they can handle a AK-47 or a RPG. He can kill and destory or be killed or destoryed. Maybe that when a child does a crime against society a part of his body is remove Something that fits the crime. While this might not stop crime from happening it would send a message to those that their actions would cause them pain for the rest of their lives. It would be kind of hard to be involed in robbery if you are running around in a wheel chair.
Living in jail for decades with 3 meals a day and a semi-safe cell may sound like Hell today, but think what other countries do to their young offenders.
Consider the case of Christopher Pittman who, at such a young age, killed his grandmother and grandfather. As horrible in nature as the crime was, Christopher is serving a 30-year sentence. In the UK, he would have been placed under the care of adults who would have monitored and guided him until he reached the age of 21 at which point he would have been released.
Just cause you are under the age of 18 does not make you a child. No one over the age of 10 should be labeled a child. We are not sticking infants in prison for life, we are holding young adauts responsable for there actions. In almost every other aspect of a teenagers life its to become more adult untill it comes to pay the price of there actions.
CORRECTION
FLORIDA IS A BARBARIC STATE – IT IS UNCONSCIONABLE THAT A JUDGE COULD SENTECE A CHILD, A BABY, TO LIFE FOR
ROBBERY. IN THE CASE OF KENNETH YOUNG,
A CHILD WHO WAS JUST 14 YRS OLD – AND
BEING FORCED BY AN ADULT CRIMINAL
TO PARTICIPATE IN CRIMINAL ACTIVITY
IS NO MORE RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS ACTS,
THAN ANY PERSON – BEING FORCED OR
COMPELLED TO COMMIT A CRIME, FOR FEAR
FOR HIS LIFE OR THE LIFE OF HIS FAMILY. I AM HARD ON CRIME AND ON
CRIMINALS – BUT I AM SOFT ON CHILDREN -
AND EVEN THOUGH SOME MAKE WHAT WE BELIEVE TO BE CONSCIOUS DECISIONS TO
PARTICIPATE IN CRIMINAL ACTIVITY – AT
WHAT AGE, STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT, DO WE
DETERMINE THERE IS NO HOPE FOR REMORSE,
REHABILITATION AND/OR MATURITY. HOW DO WE ALLOW THE GOVT TO DECIDE THIS HUMAN BEING, THIS CHILD, SHOULD BE LOCKED
AWAY FOREVER. THIS IS CLEARLY A TYPE
OF GENOCIDE, THAT INVOLVES POOR,
MINORITY CHILDREN, OFTEN INVOLVED IN
ACTIVITIES BECAUSE OF THEIR CIRCUMSTANCES. IF WE PUT MONEY IN
IMPROVING CONDITIONS IN OUR COMMUNITIES, OUR SCHOOLS, AND IN
JOB TRAINING INSTEAD OF PRISONS WE
COULD RIGHTLY CONTINUE TO CLAIM WE
ARE THE GREATEST NATION. WE ARE LOOSING
STATUS IN THE WORLD – WE HAVE MORE PRISONERS THAN ANY COUNTRY – AND WE PUT LESS EMPHASIS ON EDUCATION THAN MANY COUNTRIES- IT’S NO WONDER. WE MUST LEARN TO FORGIVE – PUNISHMENT SHOULD BE COMENSERATE TO THE CRIME – SINCE WHEN IS A ROBBERY COMMITTED BY A CHILD EQUAL LIFE W/O PAROLE. SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE – SAVE OUR CHILDREN.
This is really something else. I have heard of children being lead by adult criminals, and taking the wrap for the crime. However, this case sounds like he was a vicitm of intimidation and kidnapping (based on the article) However, I do feel that youth these days (2009) are committing more serious crimes and dispositioned to residential treatment facilities for 3-6 months. At which time, the consequences are not fitting the crime. This then does not allow the youth to begin to understand what “taking responsibility for ones actions” means. Assisting in their continued criminal lifestyle and mind set. Overall, not reducing recidivism in our juv justice system. We have even more work to do in our judical system, than in the early 70’s. God Bless our children that are products of adults self distructive conditions.
We need to stop sentencing young people to die in jail.
Aberrational parenting can hardly be expected to produce the best citizenship. A life sentence for a child is a crime. Did the judge get a kick-back from a private prison? Incarceration should always be about rehabilitation, even though not all “criminals” will rehabilitate in the course of a single natural life, especially individuals who were never “habilitated” in the first place. Some will be lifers, not because of their offenses, but because of their inability learn to embrace an ethical life in a well designed correctional setting, which includes inmates earning their keep. Prisons should never be private, since outcome-based reimbursement, the release of law abiding citizens, could never be applied in a practical way. No one should profit from depriving others of freedom and only un-rehabilitated offenders should not be detained indefinitely.
If Alex doesn’t understand the article and finds it boring he is clearly uneducated and may find himself someday in a situation where he will hope others have studied the issue. One has to wonder about the intelligence of people who think it is always cut and dried, and it is not necessary to look at upbringing, abuse, maturity, personality disorders and other factors as potentially mediating. 4 consecutive lift terms for robbery is way beyond reasonable. As a judge myself, I would certainly opine that the sentencing judge should be turned away by the voters at the next election. Seems like he has only read part of the “rule book.” We have judges for their expertise in law. If they are not going to use it, but rather just follow a matrix, they should be replaced by a computer programs.
I am wife of jlwop [juvenile life without parole] who has in been prison for 30 yrs who did not murder or rob anyone,and was not treated fairly in his case wasn’t read his rights properly all i am saying is where is the justice there is lot of cases where young boys maybe guilty or not guilty but was they treated fair. PLEASE JUST BE FAIR!! Please people lets get to legislation its and issue thats going away.
I am a mother of a juvenile in Maryland who was given the sentence of life without parole. He was 16 years old. Please, I just want them to give him another chance. He was given the same sentence as the person who actually committed the murder. Please if someone would just talk to us! PLEASE HELP US.
There is no life without foregiveness, for they should always think of justice
Enough with the crying sympathy from you people – take accountability and responsibility for yourselves, your children and your communities.
Even at average intelligence, 15 years old is enough to know right from wrong on major issues like murder, rape, etc. Stop making excuses!
Death penalty for children was cancelled, probably because you all whined about it. Now you whine about life imprisonment. Next you’ll whine if they have to serve *any* jail time because ‘that will make them even worse criminals’. Throughout this article and comments all I see is crying for the criminal, but not much for the victim.
I fully support victims families forgiving the criminal and making peace in their lives – but forgiveness doesn’t mean that a jail sentence should be cancelled. We owe it to the rest of the community to keep criminals off the streets.
*** Reading this two years later in 2011 and I am a registered Republican and conservative that believes that Florida needs to focus on this issue because I believe it is a human rights issue. As a conservative I am ashamed of this state and it’s conservative laws that treats children like adults. In this incident Kenneth Young did not actually touch the firearm himself. It is outrageous that he should be treated as an adult and as if he were the one with the gun when he was not. Also, Judge Padgett should be ashamed of himself for not knowing what “life in prison” meant. These were lives that he was controlling and to say that he “did not know the sentencing rules” is absolute proof that ALL JUDGES SHOULD BE REQUIRED TO TAKE LEGAL EDUCATION CLASSES ANNUALLY OR BI-ANNUALLY TO REMAIN ON THE BENCH SO THAT THEY SENTENCE PEOPLE KNOWING FULLY WHAT AN ACTUAL SENTENCE. It is nice that Judge Padgett now has regrets, but the point is that a young man’s life is in jeopardy because of his ignorance. I hope that Paolo Annino reads this and considers the application of educating judges who sit on the bench because anything less is a miscarriage of justice. I think that a new law that requires sitting judges to be educated should be called The Kenneth Young Legal Education Act. I wish Kenneth Young the very best and perhaps a letter to new Governor Rick Scott may help in a clemency bid. ***
I writing this to let you all know that i’m doing research on this topic in my class and i’m the only one that thinks that the should serve life. i lost my sister from murder. her EX-BOYFRIEND KILLED HER for seeing her with a friend of hers.. like best friend . and they give him 30 years he was 17. she die at the age of 15