From the category archives:

Voices

Father Val Peter

“These youths need a ray of hope where they can start making efforts to restore, however little or much, some moral balance lost by what they have done.”

Father Val Peter
Sentencings Should Reflect Youths’ Capacity to Change (Omaha World-Herald)

Omaha World-Herald

“Society, in other words, needs to tread cautiously in automatically imposing the most severe penalties on individuals whose minds are still developing.”

Omaha World-Herald
The Need for Balance

Mel Beckman

“Anyone who has raised a child through adolescence has seen irresponsibility and wrongdoing give way to maturity and responsible living after some years.”

Mel Beckman
Give Youth the Chance to Reform (Omaha World-Herald)

Fran Kaye

“With the money saved [from prohibiting the use of life without the possibility of parole sentences in the cases of youth], we could take care of victims and, more importantly, invest in programs to help at-risk children before they become offenders.”

Fran Kaye
Life Sentences (Lincoln Journal-Star)

Judge John Murphy

“I sentenced [a 17-year-old] to life imprisonment. I have not changed my opinion as to the depravity of the crime, its abhorrent nature or its terrible impact upon the victim’s family and community. However, I have changed my opinion of the defendant.”

Judge John P. Murphy
Judging Youth and Serious Crime (Omaha World-Herald)

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Jim Cunningham

“[A]n irreversible sentence of death in prison for juvenile murderers eliminates opportunity, not just opportunity for review by the Parole Board, but much more significantly, all meaningful opportunity for redemption, reform, rehabilitation and reintegration.”

Jim Cunningham
Legislative Bill is Challenging Life Without Parole for Young Criminals (Catholic Voice)

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Michael Nelsen

“The bottom-line question is: Do Nebraskans want to continue locking up juveniles for life, or are we content to wait until the U.S. Supreme Court tells us not to do it anymore.”

Michael Nelsen
There’s Nothing Just About Locking Juveniles Up for Life (Omaha World-Herald)

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Alan Simpson

“There is a simple reason the criminal justice system should treat juveniles and adults differently: Kids are a helluva lot dumber than adults.”

Alan Simpson
A Sentence Too Cruel for Children (Washington Post)

Cal Thomas

“One-size-fits-all sentencing doesn’t fit, and it shouldn’t. Isn’t it better to attempt to reclaim children headed in the wrong direction than to doom them to life in prison without parole?”

Cal Thomas
Life Without Parole for Child Criminals, Cruel, Unusual (Omaha World-Herald)

Washington Post

“Most states have not consciously sanctioned imposition of mandatory life terms for juveniles. Instead, these sentences are the warped confluence of an increasing number of prosecutions in which juveniles are charged as adults and the increasing number of crimes that carry sentences of life without parole.”

Washington Post
Locked Away Forever

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