America ranks with the country of Samalia, a third world country, in its treatment of our children and youth. The United Nations Treaty, http://www.unicef.org/crc/, has been signed by every country in the world except us and samalia. What does that say for America? Children are not children any more in our country. They are used and abused as if they were adults, able to know right from wrong at birth. As of January 2008, the US had locked up 2,270 youth for life sentences. The U.S. has 42 states that allow children to be sentenced to die in prison. There are many studies that show the ability of youth to understand and make judgemental decisions. According to these studies most humans don't make good judgemental decisions until near the age of 25, let alone 18. Parents are still responsible until the age of 21, but a child becomes an adult at 18. We are locking them up for life at 14 to 17 years old. Children are changable, more so than adults. Even looking at my own past, I made decisions that I would do differently now at 38 years old when I was 23. I believe most of us realize this too late. THe U.S. needs to sign this treaty, and evaluate all the youth we have locked up to be released, especially those that are in for life sentences that are questionable. One case that I have looked into is that of Jessy J. Roten, in Florida. He has three consecutive life sentences for a shooting at the age of 17. In reading his case and the expert testimony one sees where the shooting was accidental, but the timeing of his case fell around the same time as the Columbine Shooting, so his case was manipulated and twisted, and he was sentenced as an example instead of his own crime. I wrote to Jessy and asked him , I spoke to people who knew him and were around him at the time of the shooting. This case is a disgrace to American Justice. It is a perfect example of how far out of control we have become in sending people to prison to be a burden on our the economy and the tax payer in the name of revenge instead of justice. We as a people need to force the Bush Administration and our state officials to comply with this treaty. Making a hate crime out of an angry youth out burst that recklessly caused the death of another is not justice, it's revenge, it's punishing for crimes of others in the future. Why do we allow our justice system to work this way?We complain about taxes, but we throw children in prisons like garbage and foot the bill for revenge. This is a big election year, the perfect time to take control of our nation. We need to speak out for our children, for our country and be the super power that we are. We are fighting a war to help a country be more like us, what kind of example are we?
cs says ...
On Thursday, Apr 17 at 2:27 PM
Article 40 is only one part of the CRC treaty ... there are other parts that could potentially harm parental rights.
3291829