With this extensive history of gun related tragedy, and a gun favoring majority population, Colorado has become a testing ground for new laws on gun control. Source A concludes by saying “ ‘It’s different now because children are being butchered in schools,’ said Dave Hoover, a police officer in Lakewood, Colo., whose nephew A.J. Boik was one of the 12 people killed in Aurora. ‘Because kids were killed at a movie. Because families went to church and were gunned down.’ ”(Source A).
Hannah Howarth English assessment task Monster by Walter Dean Myers In his recent masterpiece “Monster” Walter Dean Myers brilliantly presents the story of young 16 year old Steve Harmon to uphold and raise his concerns about the mind puzzling Justice System in America and its confusing handling of minors. Walter skilfully questions the barbaric enforcement of the harsh felony murder laws and the courts sentencing of minors as adults in adult incarceration. He uses a variety of techniques to make his audience stop and think whether the American Justice system is doing right or wrong. Steve Harmon is on trial with James King for felony murder from a group robbery in Mr Nesbitts drugstore, Although Steve is not fully responsible
[2][3] Arrested a month before his 16th birthday,[4] he was tried and convicted as a minor. By law, this meant that he would be released and his criminal records sealed as soon as he turned 21. [2][5] Price bragged that he would "make history" when he was released. [2] The case led to changes in state law to allow juveniles to be tried as adults for serious crimes, but these could not be applied retroactively to Price. [3] Due to the brutality of his crimes and the opinion of state psychologists that he
This month Kip Kinkel was sentenced to life in prison in Oregon for the murders of his parents and a shooting rampage at his high school that killed two studen ts. A psychiatrist who speciali zes in the care of adolescents testified that Kinkel, now 17, had been hearing voices since he was 12. Sam Manzie is also 17. He is serving a 70-year sentence for luring a n 11- year-old boy named Eddie Werner into his New Jersey home and strangling him with the cord of an alarm clock because his Sega Genesis was out of reach. Manzie had his firs t psychological evaluation in the first grade.
Violence; The Real Deal On April 20, 1999 there was a massacre at columbine high school twelve students and one teacher died that day. Even though there have been many incenses. Columbine has changed the way we view school violence. Can we stop someone from any king of violence? As a country we try by adding cops at school ,metal detectors by the front door entrances, and even separate schools, one for the good students and another for the bad.
A Series of Unfortunate Events It has been almost a year since a mentally ill youth took the life of twenty innocent children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. Last week, the latest news reported a military man, who went on a shooting rampage in Texas at Fort Hood. Other memorable tragedies such as the murders at the premiere of The Dark Knight Rises movie in Aurora, the Columbine high school massacre, or even the Virginia Tech massacre bring back to light a highly debated issue, guns and who should possess them. Despite these tragedies, deep division has kept new gun safety laws from passing in congress. A stricter mental and criminal background check system should be put in place before gun purchase to
Kids Should Not Be Tried As Adults The Juvenile Court was created in the early twentieth century to handle juvenile offenders on the basis of their youth rather than their crimes. Over the past twenty years, the public’s belief on youth violence has contributed to widespread support across the country to abolish the juvenile court system for kids to be given tougher sentences. The purpose of juvenile court is treatment and guidance rather than punishment so it is the state’s responsibility to protect and rehabilitate young offenders. Since psychology showed a difference between children and adult prisons because they do not have the same rights as adults and are not fully developed either.
Kip Kinkel vs. State of Oregon: Teenage violence should be punished Kip Kinkel vs. State of Oregon: Teenage violence should be punished Kip Kinkel, at the age of 15 shot and killed both of his parents. The next day he went on a shooting rampage at Thurston High School and shot 28 students, two of whom died from their injuries. Tried as an adult, Kinkel was convicted of four counts of murder and 26 counts of attempted murder (Oregon Court of Appeals, 2002). In the case State of Oregon V. Kip Kinkel, the appellate court of Oregon reviewed Kinkel’s case in order to determine whether his sentence should be reduced. Judge Haselton made a sound decision in leaving Kinkel’s sentence the same.
He was quoted as saying, "they ALL mocked and slaughtered my self esteem it got so bad I had to turn to drugs." Only days after Thanksgiving, Carneal walked into school with his arsenal of weapons and opened fire killing two students (Newman 26-27). Another example from the book is that of Andrew Williams of Santee, CA. Similar to Carneal, Williams was harassed and teased because of his scrawny appearance. He seemed to take this in stride though, however, on the inside he was being destroyed.
Abolishing the juvenile court may enable them to see that children should have status as rights holders. The juvenile court’s emphasis on rehabilitation and reform not only masks the coercive effects of state intervention but also permits the state to do things to children on the grounds that it is in the children’s best interests. Combining the courts would actually be better for juveniles, which may seem like an absurd statement to many rehabilitators and children’s advocates until they understand the