Tonight I watched Children In Prison for Life Sentences. It is about Kenneth Young who committed an armed robbery when he was 15 years old and sentenced to life in prison on four accounts. He has already served 11 years and now is fighting during a re-trial to be released. This documentary film really makes you stop and think if the punishment that is given to children really does fit the crime that has been done. People evolve mature and change every single day. I have done further research since being appalled with this outcome at the end of the film. CANYONRANCH.COM states “Like the rest of your body, your brain changes with each passing year. From the time we are infants, our brains are adapting, learning, making memories and more. We become smarter and sharper, earning the wisdom that truly only comes with life experience. ” So what makes it right to in-prison someone with a undeveloped brain? Especially someone that needed to get money to feed his family at the age of 14 years old. Very sad film!
Hi, Billie. I appreciate that you’re not afraid to bring real issues to light. This film is great at showing how unfair the justice system is. I believe that every criminal should serve time for the crime they’ve committed, however, incarceration isn’t always the option. I believe that a better alternative would be rehabilitation. You’re right, the human brain doesn’t develop until your mid-twenties, therefore, it made no sense for this young 15 year old individual to be tried as an adult. This is definitely a controversial topic. I think the questions that this film poses are: What if a child commits murder, shouldn’t they be sentenced to life? and how does rehabilitation change anything? Like you, for a long time I was interested in developmental psychology. Children who commit crimes are not at real fault. This is where to mentally unstable plead comes into play. If his defense attorney would have plead mental unstableness, this would lead to multiple cases being release. It’s a ripple effect and it’s sometimes hard to argue for or against them. However, this young man did commit a crime and should pay for it, but not the way they made him do it in the film.