Equal Justice Initiative
securing relief for dozens of condemned prisoners, advocated for poor people and develodeveloped legal services for poor people and death row prisoners in Alabama for almost 20 years
Posted on 02/17/2008 12:02:03 PM PST by hoppity
Ventura County prosecutors should not try a 14-year-old Oxnard boy as an adult in the killing of a 15-year-old classmate in Oxnard.
Tuesday's shooting at E.O. Green Junior High, which resulted in the death of eighth-grader Lawrence King, is a tragedy. But, as a community, we cannot let our sense of outrage, hurt and desire for justice blind us to the fact that the suspected shooter turned 14 a mere three weeks ago.
The boy's attorney, Brian Vogel, stated that if the shooting had occurred before his client's Jan. 24 birthday, he could not be tried as an adult. "My client hasn't become an adult in the last three weeks," he said.
Just two days after the shooting, prosecutors made a preliminary decision to try the boy in adult court. A controversial 2000 law, Proposition 21, allows it. In that adult court, the 14-year-old could face a sentence of 50 or more years to life in prison.
The District Attorney's Office is still evaluating the case, so there is still a chance for the boy to be tried in Juvenile Court.
Considerations must go beyond that it is the regular practice of the District Attorney's Office to file such cases in adult court or that the law allows it.
There has not been a case like this before in Ventura County.
As Senior Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox said: "We've never had a school shooting like this."
The two days from the shooting Tuesday to the suspect's first court appearance Thursday are not enough time for prosecutors to fully research the shooting and make an informed decision on a matter of this import.
Trying the 14-year-old suspect in Juvenile Court would not make the District Attorney's Office look any less tough on crime in this high-profile case. It is simply an acknowledgment of the facts — the suspect is just 14 and this case belongs in Juvenile Court.
The question is not whether the district attorney can try the case in adult court, but whether he should.
We believe there is a strong reason for a juvenile-justice system and that justice is served in that system.
The Star believes, in this case, it is the only way justice can be truly served.
The practice of trying children in adult courts has gained national attention, as several organizations have recently highlighted egregious cases and the fact the United States is one of the few countries in the world that allows children to be prosecuted as adults and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
A November 2007 report by The Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit law organization based in Montgomery, Ala. — "Cruel and Unusual Punishment: Sentencing 13- and 14-Year-Old Children To Die in Prison" — stated: "Together with their diminished understanding of rights, confusion about trial processes, limited language skills, and inadequate decision-making abilities, young children are at great risk in the adult criminal justice system."
Even before technology allowed scientists to map humans' developing brains, society and the law recognized the differences between children and adults, and cases have been prosecuted accordingly. Now we know with scientific certainty that adolescents' brains are anatomically undeveloped. That affects adolescents' emotions, impulse control, risk assessment and all that goes into making good judgments.
We simply do not expect children to make the same judgments as adults and we fully expect adolescents will mature and change as they grow.
That difference does not excuse homicide. But it does justify a system of justice that recognizes appropriate venues for justice to be meted out: juvenile court for juveniles and adult court for adults.
A boy 19 days into his 14th year is absolutely not a candidate for adult court.
We all want justice in this case.
Justice cannot be served by trying this 14-year-old in adult court.
You should have cancelled your subscripton after they endorsed Ho Chi Kerry in 2004.
I didn’t get it then. They just got a new editor, and thought things might be looking up. Just up the wrong place, I guess.
Splain to me,.. how is a 14 year old killer is not an adult but a 14 year old girl can terminate a pregnancy, without her parents knowledge or consent, cause she’s an adult.
Sparky,.. sometin’s not makin sense here.
14 years old and uses a gun to murder someone else.
All for the death penalty, like day after tomorrow.
Could you post some info on the shooting?
Equal Justice Initiative
securing relief for dozens of condemned prisoners, advocated for poor people and develodeveloped legal services for poor people and death row prisoners in Alabama for almost 20 years
So, if he’d been smart enough to hire this attorney earlier, he would have advised him to shoot this kid three weeks earlier?
We will execute a 14-year-old so that boys can wear lipstick and high heels. America’s new higher calling.
Who reads editorials? You like getting yourself all upset? Why don’t you go bang your head against the wall or something more productive?
Actually, we’re excuting him for murder, not because of what the victim chose to wear.
Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama receives money from George Soros:
Open Society Institute, is a Soros Foundations Network
“Building a Global Alliance for Open Society”
U S Justice Fund (George Soros)
Grantees
Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama
2002
A general support grant to the Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama, a private, nonprofit organization that provides legal representation to indigent defendants and prisoners who have been denied fair and just treatment in the legal system.
Montgomery, Alabama | $400,000 | 2 years | http://www.eji.org/
But he’s an adult when it comes to making decisions about sex and should be handed free condoms at school so that he can be protected when he makes the, uh, decision we expect him to make.
More money from George Soros:
Gideon Project
Grantees
Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama
2004
To provide general support.
Montgomery, AL | $900,000 | 3 Years | http://www.eji.org/
A year old and a year stupider?
A year older and a year stupider?
Please remove post #15.
I don’t care if he murdered a Cross Dresser or an Eagle Scout, he should spend the rest of his life in a cage.
I challenge anyone to go to court and see one of these 14 year olds in the court. They have VIOLENT rap sheet with a attitude of no remorse and total indifference to consequences.
The prosecutors routinely try 16 year olds as adults, there is no reason 14 years can’t either.
It is also not “automatic” it has to be requested and proven.
Soros Justice Fellowships
The Soros Justice Fellowships support outstanding individuals, including lawyers, advocates, grassroots organizers, activist academics, journalists, and filmmakers, to implement innovative projects that address one or more of the criminal justice priorities of OSI’s U.S. Justice Fund.
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