12 Year Old Suspects In Milwaukee Stabbing Case Are Charged As Adults – Our Anger Is Making Us Blind

According to the LA Times, the two 12 year-old Wisconsin girls involved in stabbing a classmate  are being charged as adults.  The full story is here:  http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-wisconsin-girls-both-12-charged-as-adults-in-stabbing-of-friend-20140602-story.html

This is outrageous. 

There are two “age” hurdles in the Juvenile Justice System.  The first is that one is not deemed capable of committing a crime until the age of 13.  The law recognizes that children are children – be they savage or cruel, they are always redeemable.

The second is that a minor can be charged as an adult, if it is determined that their needs can’t be met in the juvenile justice system.  The courts are to look to the sophistication of the crime, the criminal history of the minor, and the capability of reform, in determining whether the child’s issues can be addressed in the juvenile justice system. 

There is no sense in jumping over both hurdles in a single instance.  Doing so is borne of rage, and absent logic.

On one hand, the crime that took place is horribly cruel.  And was premeditated.  And I understand that everyone demands justice.  But I can’t imagine that anyone directly affected would think this was the right decision.  Sending a child to prison, with no hope of release during their life, and raising children in prison, is an abomination.  If a child has a mental illness, they can be sent to a mental hospital for an indeterminate time – which may never arrive – but the premise is that there is hope for redemption.  Sending a child to prison for life, however, is simply wrong.  We would be raising the child for prison, not for society.

Justice Kagan, in Miller v. Alabama, addressed why mandatory life-without-parole was an 8^th amendment violation, and in doing so addressed the “hallmark features” of the juvenile mind, including “immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to appreciate risks and consequences.”   While juveniles can certainly engage is horrific conduct, the juvenile justice system is designed to address the young mind.

In troubling times, facing a horrible and twisted act, we need to still keep our heads.  The reason we do not put 12 year-olds in prison, or sentence 12 year-olds to life in prison, is because of our belief that every child can be redeemed.  If we lose that, we lose our civility.