I think some of you are missing my point. I am in no way trying to mitigate the culpability of the offender nor offer him an easier ride in terms of punishment.
At the end of the day though, how much more of a punishment is it (especially for a 15yr old) to be incarcerated for twenty-two than five years? Both are interminably long times in the mind of an adolescent: the only difference is the vengeful satisfaction that it gives the community (which must be considered I guess), and the product that is released at the end of the sentence.
If Mesner is decreed to be socially amoral and a permanent risk to the community, then the judicial system should bite the bullet and lock him up for the term of his natural life. I have no problem with that.
If he’s not categorised thusly, they should give him the benefit of the doubt and ascribe a ‘just’ sentence that will hopefully allow him to rectify his evil ways and emerge from the penal system with a degree of hope for the future. Five years is just as much a punishment as 22, but without quite so many of the problems that institutionalisation and exposure to extreme criminality will add.
Shit, the very purpose of the *punishment *component of our legal systems is to help ensure that the culprit will not do it again. We can either do that by locking them away from the community forever, or we can do it by giving them a decent opportunity to redeem themselves in the foreseeable future.
If he’s not even sorry he crushed a homeless man to death, I don’t think 5 years is enough punishment. I’m all for rehabilitation - and I wish there was more funding for education and training in prisons - but this clod needs to sit where he is for a good long time. Maybe he will get bored enough to avail himself of whatever opportunities are available to him. Frankly, I don’t think 22 years is a long enough sentence.
He’s bored? Give me a fucking break. The guy he killed won’t have the chance to be bored again.
I wonder if this sewer scum started on small animals? No - I’ve got it - he was only practicing wrestling moves!
One justification for a 22 year sentence is that he’ll be in his late 30s when he gets out. He may not be rehabilitated, but he’ll no longer be brimming with a youth’s energy, either.
Don’t underestimate the satisfaction of the community. If he’d been sentenced to only five years, I assure you that there would be howls of outrage. And we’d probably have a Pit thread about that, too.
Personally, from what I’ve read about the case, I’d be inclined to lock him up for life, or execute him. I don’t think that this creature is human, nor do I believe that he’s capable of becoming so. I hope I’m wrong, but some people are just permanently broken, for whatever reason, and cannot live in a free society.
If you are a decent person, but fuck up and kill someone while driving drunk, I can see five or ten years in jail, because you’re a good person who made a terrible mistake.
Beating and torturing another human being over the course of three days is not an accident, it is a sign of either a twisted mind and/or a person with no concern for others- in either case life in prison should be mandatory.
I think that in general the prisons are trying to do a better job at education/rehabilitation than they have in the past.
My wife works for the local school district, but is assigned to work at the Utah State Prison. They do have programs in place where inmates can get a GED or High School diploma, and also work with the local community college to provide Associate degrees in fields such as home construction, auto mechanics and others. Through distance based learning, they can even get a university degree.
They also provide “Life Skills” classes to try and prepare them for life on the outside and help them identify some of the thinking errors that lead to criminal behavior.
When an inmate is about to be paroled, they work with the state employment services to help them find a job.
Obviously, there are some (probably including this kid) who are beyond help, but since these programs have been instituted, the return rate has dropped dramatically.