Youth's punishment fits committed crime

Editor,

In response to Jason Gil Bear's letter "Justice system fails teenager with life sentence," it is not the justice system or the WWF that is to blame in this situation. The only thing to blame is the failure of a capable 12-year-old's judgment.

This young man beat a child that was half his age and one-third his size to death. A 12-year-old can tell when a person is unconscious. The girl was dead when the police arrived on the scene. This crime was brutal regardless if the boy was "playing."

Our society is experiencing a flood of juvenile criminal offenders. This is not because of the media or bad parenting. It is from a lack of punishment and responsibility. Most teens know that if they commit a crime while under 18 years of age, they will not be as severely punished.

However, that is exactly what they need. We cannot continue to make excuses for out-of-control teens. They need take responsibility for their actions and accept the punishment that our society has set. In this case, the punishment fits the crime, no matter how old the offender is. I know a lot of kids who wrestle and none of them have had a problem with beating their playmates to death, because they know when to stop.

Jason Gil Bear made claims about the society's duty to rehabilitate offenders. Sadly, the best rehabilitation has proven to be punishment for bad deeds. Moreover, the fulfillment of these punishments can help to prevent future problems. If everyone continues to make excuses for why America's youth has become so violent, the problem will continue and will not be solved.

Our system is based partially on the threat that the law poses. The present system does not pose a great threat to the youth; I think that it may enable them to commit crime because of the lessened punishment. Gil Bear also wrote about remorse and its value. I think that remorse is never enough, primarily because it comes after the fact. It is easy to have regrets and remorse, but the deed is not undone.

I am glad that this boy apparently understands that what he did was wrong and that he is sorry, but this only proves that he knew all along that beating a little girl to death is wrong. At the age of 12, kids to understand right, wrong, life and death. The little girl sustained more than thirty injuries, including a fractured skull and a ruptured kidney.

I think a life sentence is appropriate in this case. In fact, it may be generous, because, if Lionel was 30 when he committed the crime, he may even be facing a death sentence. I can only hope that the punishment is followed through and that it sets an example to the rest of the country that our system is no nonsense and that murder is absolutely wrong and will be punished.

Whitney Davis

Undergraduate student