Imagine this. You’re woken up in the middle of the night to a phone call that you’re son or daughter is missing. Killed, raped, beaten- all of these things are screaming in your mind. The pit in your stomach begs for answers. All of these possibilities are done in the hands of another human being. How do you go on knowing that someone cut their life short?

A crime is a crime. Everyday there is a prisoner released that murdered, raped, or extremely assaulted another human being, and why is that? Why should a teenager be released and have the ability to go on with their lives because they are under the lucky number of eighteen. Every single person who commits a serious crime should be punished to the full extent no matter what age. The victims and families are just learning to cope with the loss and one day that murderer is released. They face the trauma all over again, feeling like justice wasn’t served to their dead child. Their child can no longer be on planet earth anymore all because of an ignorant teen who got angry one day or who’s sick and twisted mind saw it as fun.

However, some people believe the adolescent teens are unaware of what they are doing. They didn’t know that there was consequences to making another person’s heart stop beating.

“Every day, different defendants receive different sentences even if they caused the same harm. This is because defendants differ in culpability, or blameworthiness. At no other time are these differences more pronounced than during adolescence, when youths struggle with their immaturity, undeveloped decision-making abilities, impulsiveness, lack of future orientation and susceptibility to negative peer pressure.” Many people believe that adolescent teens are incapable of making mature, responsible, and well-processed decisions. Many feel sympathy for a child who has grown up in jail and will remain in jail all their life. This video titled “Growing up in Prison” gives us an idea of what that experience is like. It also provides us with conflicting opinions on the matter between the family of the prisoner and the family mourning the loss.

Some people claim that teenagers brains aren’t “fully developed”. In my opinion, if you have the ability to murder and rape people, even with this underdeveloped brain, your development wasn’t going in the right direction anyways. A child that is capable of doing these kinds of things does not have morals. Morals and humility are qualities you are brought up with from the beginning, you either have them or you don’t. There is no gray area. There is no fixing people who have the ability to kill and hurt people for their own pleasure. It is not right and should never be justified to be okay by any means.

Jamie Bulger was two years old when he was killed in 1993. Where could he be now if it weren’t for two ten year old boys looking for a fun excursion that day? Maybe he could be a doctor or a father, the possibilities are endless if he were to be alive today. These boys were tried as minors and were given a second chance at life. A second chance was given to two boys who killed an innocent baby. It sickens me to know that these two are out there somewhere living their life when they took away someone’s who was so fragile and precious. A little boy took the hands of these two murderers because he was too young to know that they were leading him to his death. Led him on a walk of torture until he was dead, and left him on the railroad tracks.

Jon Venables served eight years in jail and was released in 2001 for beating and killing this child with bricks and iron bars. In 2010, he was recalled back to prison for accessing and distributing images of child abuse. It is clear to see that people do not change. This man was released after a horrific crime and continued to be harmful to our society. Time and time again he has been let off and been given a new identity to start over. This man should have never been released in the first place and should have been behind bars for the remainder of his life. If the little boy killed by this man does not get a second chance then I don’t believe this disgusting human being deserves one either.

“No matter what happens in life, be good to people, being good to people is a wonderful legacy to leave behind.” – Colleen Ritzer

On October 22, 2014 a beloved teacher at Danvers high school, Colleen Ritzer, was murdered and raped by 14-year-old student, Philip Chism. Ritzer was a beautiful young woman who strived to be a role model for her students. The kind of teacher who really cares and the kind of teacher that many schools today are lacking. She left a lasting impression on every person she met. I have spoken with students that attend Danvers High School who were devastated by the loss of this beloved teacher. Her life was brutally taken from her by a boy who had complete intent of doing so. “Police believe Chism attacked Ritzer with a box cutter in the bathroom at Danvers High School, and raped her twice, once with a tree branch. He then apparently wheeled her body out to some woods behind the school sports pitches in a recycling bin, dumped her corpse in a, ‘sexually positioned manner’, with the branch still inside her and left a scrawled note saying, ‘I hate you all’.” This boy also is known to have received pleasure from torturing and torching cats. His inhumane behavior has seen to be constant throughout his life while disguising himself as a “polite and quiet boy”. After the murder he went to have a Wendy’s burger and went home to watch a Woody Allen movie. Cleary this boy didn’t have a care in the world. There is an ongoing sentencing debate on this case. Juveniles convicted of first-degree murder are now eligible for parole after fifteen years served. After receiving DNA tests, Chism was indicted on the new count of rape by a grand jury. Chism’s lawyer is asking for the murder charges to be tried separately from the other charges, but prosecutors want to join them together and try them all in Superior Court. This has complicated things and may delay the trial.

How can anyone say that this boy did not understand what he was doing or that his actions would lead to punishments? How can anyone say that he should not be tried as an adult and in turn be given a more lenient sentence? That is the most pitiful form of justice I have ever seen if this were to be true. This fourteen year old should be tried as an adult and although this will not bring peace to Ritzer’s family, students, or friends it will give them the sense that in some form justice was served. If this boy is not tried as an adult, one day he will be released. He will be walking on the streets and be a constant threat to society. People do not go from horrifically evil people to good-hearted citizens. He will never be a good thing for our society and neither will any teen that takes the lives of others. They should not be excused for their actions and old wounds should not reopen for the families of this beautiful woman. They have gone through enough. I believe we owe it to the lives of the departed to serve justice in this world when justice is nowhere to be found.