11-year-old American is youngest person in world to face life without parole

SharpshooterTom · 28-01-2011 6:26pm #1

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/youngest-american-life-without-parole/

I'm all for tougher sentences against murderers and other serious crimes, but this is a bit harsh isn't it??

Dravokivich · 28-01-2011 6:28pm

Boy's claim of innocence prompted judge to try him as adult

That'll teach him not to lie!

or the rest of ye....

11-year-old Pennsylvanian is youngest person in world to face life without parole

By Daniel Tencer
Tuesday, January 25th, 2011 -- 8:46 pm
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jordanbrownafp 11 year old Pennsylvanian is youngest person in world to face life without parole

Boy's claim of innocence prompted judge to try him as adult

A Pennsylvania boy who was 11 years old when he allegedly shot and killed his father's pregnant fiancee could find himself being the youngest person ever sentenced to life without parole.

Human rights campaigners have said the case shows the US' justice system to be unusually harsh towards juvenile offenders, and argue that a life sentence for the boy could violate international law.

Prosecutors allege that Jordan Brown, now 13, shot and killed 26-year-old Kenzie Houk as she slept in her home in Lawrence County, near Pittsburgh, in February, 2009. Houk was pregnant with a nearly full-term child at the time. Brown was charged with two counts of homicide.

Brown's lawyers on Tuesday argued an appeal against a judge's earlier decision to have the adolescent tried as an adult.

Pennsylvania's laws on juvenile trials are among the least accommodating in the country, with juvenile suspects in homicide cases automatically tried as adults, unless a judge decides otherwise.

According to WTAE in Pittsburgh, the judge's original decision to try Brown as an adult was based on Brown's refusal to admit guilt. Brown's lawyers argued Wednesday that the decision violated his right to be presumed innocent, as well as his right to avoid self-incrimination.

Deborah Houk, the victim's mother, had little sympathy for Jordan Brown's plight.

"He knew what he was doing. He killed my baby," she said of Brown in an interview not long after the murders. The Houk family has put up a website attempting to dispel a growing movement seeking to defend Brown.

But human rights group Amnesty International said that Brown is the youngest person the international organization knows of anywhere in the world facing a life sentence without possibility of parole.

"It is shocking that anyone this young could face life imprisonment without parole, let alone in a country which labels itself as a progressive force for human rights," Susan Lee, Amnesty International's director for the Americas, said in a statement.

Amnesty notes that the US is one of only two countries in the world who have refused to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Somalia is the other country.

Jordan Brown is the youngest person known to Amnesty International to be currently at risk of being sentenced to life imprisonment with no parole. However, there are already at least 2,500 people in the US serving life imprisonment without parole for crimes committed when they were under 18.

According to the Guardian, Pennsylvania has 450 juveniles serving life sentences, more than any other state.

The Supreme Court has been moving in recent years towards greater protection for juvenile offenders. It ended the death penalty for people under 18 in 2005, and last year made homicide the only crime for which juveniles can be given a life sentence.

The Washington-based Sentencing Project told the Guardian that the US is the only country in the world that has juveniles serving life without parole. "That leads to only two conclusions: either kids in the US are far more violent than those in the rest of the world, or the US has developed uniquely harsh sentences."

Jordan Brown's father, whose fiancee was killed that night in 2009, agreed with the Sentencing Project, saying his son was too young to fully understand the consequences of his actions.

"Try to explain to a 12-year-old what the rest of your life means," he said. "It's incomprehensible for him."

iPlop · 28-01-2011 6:30pm

Prosecutors allege that Jordan Brown, now 13, shot and killed 26-year-old Kenzie Houk as she slept in her home in Lawrence County, near Pittsburgh, in February, 2009. Houk was pregnant with a nearly full-term child at the time. Brown was charged with two counts of homicide.

He deserves it

Wolfe Tone · 28-01-2011 6:30pm

He killed his fathers pregnant fiancé and pled not guilty, little bastard deserves it

phill106 · 28-01-2011 6:33pm

What about the fifth amendment, the right not to incriminate himself?

phasers · 28-01-2011 6:33pm

I've no sympathy for the little cnut.

sensibleken · 28-01-2011 6:34pm

MATLOOOOOCKK!

Ghandee · 28-01-2011 6:34pm

The little shiite killed a pregnant woman, AND a nearly full term unborn baby ffs! No matter how you look at it, he murdered two people in cold blood!

Fcuk em!

I've absolutely zero sympathy for him, let him rot wherever it is he's headed for!

The Waltzing Consumer · 28-01-2011 6:35pm

phill106 wrote: »

What about the fifth amendment, the right not to incriminate himself?

Ha, read the amendment :rolleyes:. He has the right not to be a witness against himself. That has nothing to do with his plea of guilty or not guilty.

MagicMarker · 28-01-2011 6:36pm

I remember when this was first posted on boards, I can't say I'd be against life but the option of parole should be there. Just not for a very very long time.

TheZohanS · 28-01-2011 6:36pm

All he did was discharge a firearm, stupid law, he shouldn't go to jail for it.

/sarcasm

Chuchoter · 28-01-2011 6:36pm

I don't think thats fair. He was 11. At eleven you don't understand life and death. This woman and her baby were replacing him in the eyes of his father. He deserves to be punished, he doesn't deserve to be locked away the rest of his life.

Lux23 · 28-01-2011 6:36pm

Ghandee wrote: »

The little shiite killed a pregnant woman, AND a nearly full term unborn baby ffs! No matter how you look at it, he murdered two people in cold blood!

Fcuk em!

I've absolutely zero sympathy for him, let him rot wherever it is he's headed for.our

He is 11. I have nothing but sympathy for him and his family.

arybvtcw0eolkf · 28-01-2011 6:37pm

Ok I'm torn between siding with the 'its too harsh' camp, and my belief that the two murders of little James Bulger should spend the rest of their lives in prison.

But this little lad killed an adult, what did she do to make him do it?.

Wolfe Tone · 28-01-2011 6:37pm

crayolastereo wrote: »

I don't think thats fair. He was 11. At eleven you don't understand life and death. This woman and her baby were replacing him in the eyes of his father. He deserves to be punished, he doesn't deserve to be locked away the rest of his life.

You would be surprised, 11, not 3.

Wolfe Tone · 28-01-2011 6:38pm

Destiny Stale Compass wrote: »

Ok I'm torn between siding with the 'its too harsh' camp, and my belief that the two murders of little James Bulger should spend the rest of their lives in prison.

But this little lad killed an adult, what did she do to make him do it?.

He killed a baby too, was a double homicide

prinz · 28-01-2011 6:39pm

crayolastereo wrote: »

He was 11. At eleven you don't understand life and death..

He understood enough about life and death to get a gun and shoot a sleeping woman. For crying out loud he was 11 not 1, you don't think 11 year olds understand the difference between life and death?

Ghandee · 28-01-2011 6:39pm

Lux23 wrote: »

He is 11. I have nothing but sympathy for him and his family.

Curious here.

Would you still feel that way if it was some of your family members he shot?

Asphyxia · 28-01-2011 6:39pm

No sympathy from me either. Even at 11 years of age he should still know the dangers of guns. This will hopefully teach him a lesson.

good logs... · 28-01-2011 6:40pm

what if it was your little boy????? or family members child?????

biko · 28-01-2011 6:41pm

If he ever gets out he will have been raised in prison and not very good at functioning in civil society.
A life wasted, actually three lives wasted.

saywhatyousee · 28-01-2011 6:42pm

Pocketfizz wrote: »

No sympathy from me either. Even at 11 years of age he should still know the dangers of guns. This will hopefully teach him a lesson.

life without parole is probaly the harshest sentence one can get.
i would rather death than life without parole.i think he will learn his lession

PrincessLola · 28-01-2011 6:44pm

Destiny Stale Compass wrote: »

Ok I'm torn between siding with the 'its too harsh' camp, and my belief that the two murders of little James Bulger should spend the rest of their lives in prison.

But this little lad killed an adult, what did she do to make him do it?.

So all murder victims must have done something to deserve being murdered? Bull****

Anyway I don't think he should get life but he should be punished for what he did to those two people.

ScumLord · 28-01-2011 6:45pm

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

He killed his fathers pregnant fiancé and pled not guilty, little bastard deserves it

Is the case over already your honer?

Manic Moran · 28-01-2011 6:48pm

Pocketfizz wrote: »

Even at 11 years of age he should still know the dangers of guns.

I believe his choice of the use of a firearm to conduct the killing indicates that he was quite aware of the inherent lethality of firearms.

NTM

Deisekickboxing · 28-01-2011 6:48pm

2weeks grounding. Without pocket money .......that's enough

Chuchoter · 28-01-2011 6:48pm

prinz wrote: »

He understood enough about life and death to get a gun and shoot a sleeping woman. For crying out loud he was 11 not 1, you don't think 11 year olds understand the difference between life and death?

I don't think 11 year olds understand the finality of death. When my brother was 11 he still believed in Santa. If he killed the person who was replacing him in the life of the only person that mattered to him, I would understand.

I don't think you can equate this situation with Jamie Bulger. He was a random 3 year old, it was meticulously planned and they didn't just kill him. There was humiliation, torture and sexual abuse.

Cheap Thrills! · 28-01-2011 6:48pm

good logs... wrote: »

what if it was your little boy????? or family members child?????

I'd still say fcuk him. Someone in my family did something I couldn't tolerate and I had zero guilt about cutting that person dead FOR EVER.

The law is the same for everyone. If your brother, sister, child, parent, whatever does something unforgivable you cut them off if you are a decent person.

You don't enable them and excuse them on the basis that they're your blood.

People who protect/defend murderers/child abusers etc because they are family are just as bad as the perpetrator.

You cut them dead, that's what you do.

Agent Smith · 28-01-2011 6:51pm

Let him rot tbh

Ghandee · 28-01-2011 6:51pm

ScumLord wrote: »

Is the case over already your honer?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/iphone/#define?term=honer

:D:D

Laisurg · 28-01-2011 6:52pm

I'd be very interested in why he shot and killed her, if it was for no reason whatever i still wouldn't be in favor of this, kids act on impulse and why he should still go to prison of course but i think life without any chance of parole for an 11 year old is stupidly harsh, like the father says how is a kid meant to understand this, not only that but what happens to the father? His wife is dead and now his son is never going to see daylight again, he's completely alone, he also doesn't feel that he should be going away forever.

Then again it is the states, sometimes that place looks worse than here.

11-year-old American is youngest person in world to face life without parole

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