At 15, he shot and killed his parents, two classmates at his school, and wounded twenty-five others. He’s been used as the reason to lock kids up for life ever since.
This was a fascinating, thorough and extremely well researched article. It really hits home the point that even if someone commits a heinous crime as a young teen, they shouldn't be thrown away...
This was a fascinating, thorough and extremely well researched article. It really hits home the point that even if someone commits a heinous crime as a young teen, they shouldn't be thrown away for life. Teens are, as the article points out multiple times, still developing and even a normal, fully functioning teen doesn't fully understand the consequences of their actions.
Kinkel's case in particular is upsetting. If there was ever a model case for someone who was not of their right mind when they committed their crime, it's him. The fact that it took years after he was placed into the system to get help just speaks to how broken our justice system is and why mental health diversion programs are so important.
I completely understand why the victims and their families want to make sure he never gets out, but justice should balance the needs of an individual crime's victims and the needs of society as a whole. Locking teens up for life without the hope of ever getting out is bad for society. It just completely writes those people off and allows us to bury our heads in the sand and ignore the fact that a lot of these situations are caused by exacerbating factors such as abuse or mental health issues.
Teens don't know how to deal with that kind of stuff and rather than locking them up for life, we should seek to rehabilitate them.
I completely agree with how you feel about rehabilitating teens, but I feel it should go a step further. I completely understand that the victims of horrible crimes would obviously want the...
I completely agree with how you feel about rehabilitating teens, but I feel it should go a step further. I completely understand that the victims of horrible crimes would obviously want the suspects to be punished heavily, whether from life in prison, death, etc. I heavily disagree with that though. Criminals are human beings. Our current system encourages repeat offenders. A lot of criminals also suffer from mental health issues. I'm getting at with that is I believe everyone should be rehabilitated as best as possible to better society as a whole. I also understand that some people just may not be able to, and while I don't think they should be given a death sentence or anything, we should still care for them as a human being and still provide them with constant support while keeping them away from society for its good. Who knows, maybe after enough time and support, they can be.
The media rushed to piece together a narrative about him. Friends and acquaintances described a boy with an all-American upbringing but who was obsessed with bombs and guns, dressed in black and listened to Marilyn Manson.
That image of Kinkel has remained frozen in time: the dangerous child people point to as the reason some kids need to be locked up for life. For decades, Kinkel never tried to correct it. He refused every interview request and even avoided being photographed in group activities inside the prison. He worried that reemerging publicly would only further traumatize his victims. But last year he agreed to speak to HuffPost.
This has nothing to do with the article, but has Huffington Post changed fonts or have they been using this one? I don't read them all that often. I really dislike the lowercase 'i' in this, the...
This has nothing to do with the article, but has Huffington Post changed fonts or have they been using this one? I don't read them all that often. I really dislike the lowercase 'i' in this, the stroke and the dot are joined so it sticks out above the center line, and something about it is really throwing my eye off.
Edit: This is a really heartbreaking piece and really got me thinking about the problems with a retributive justice system like ours. It's so frustrating that practically every expert can agree that the way things currently are doesn't work, and yet it seems almost impossible that there could be any change because of how broken our political systems are.
This was a fascinating, thorough and extremely well researched article. It really hits home the point that even if someone commits a heinous crime as a young teen, they shouldn't be thrown away for life. Teens are, as the article points out multiple times, still developing and even a normal, fully functioning teen doesn't fully understand the consequences of their actions.
Kinkel's case in particular is upsetting. If there was ever a model case for someone who was not of their right mind when they committed their crime, it's him. The fact that it took years after he was placed into the system to get help just speaks to how broken our justice system is and why mental health diversion programs are so important.
I completely understand why the victims and their families want to make sure he never gets out, but justice should balance the needs of an individual crime's victims and the needs of society as a whole. Locking teens up for life without the hope of ever getting out is bad for society. It just completely writes those people off and allows us to bury our heads in the sand and ignore the fact that a lot of these situations are caused by exacerbating factors such as abuse or mental health issues.
Teens don't know how to deal with that kind of stuff and rather than locking them up for life, we should seek to rehabilitate them.
I completely agree with how you feel about rehabilitating teens, but I feel it should go a step further. I completely understand that the victims of horrible crimes would obviously want the suspects to be punished heavily, whether from life in prison, death, etc. I heavily disagree with that though. Criminals are human beings. Our current system encourages repeat offenders. A lot of criminals also suffer from mental health issues. I'm getting at with that is I believe everyone should be rehabilitated as best as possible to better society as a whole. I also understand that some people just may not be able to, and while I don't think they should be given a death sentence or anything, we should still care for them as a human being and still provide them with constant support while keeping them away from society for its good. Who knows, maybe after enough time and support, they can be.
This has nothing to do with the article, but has Huffington Post changed fonts or have they been using this one? I don't read them all that often. I really dislike the lowercase 'i' in this, the stroke and the dot are joined so it sticks out above the center line, and something about it is really throwing my eye off.
Edit: This is a really heartbreaking piece and really got me thinking about the problems with a retributive justice system like ours. It's so frustrating that practically every expert can agree that the way things currently are doesn't work, and yet it seems almost impossible that there could be any change because of how broken our political systems are.