When I lived in a quiet little community in California, a crime took place that shocked everyone. There were so many rumors, it was years before I found out the truth of things. I had moved back to Michigan so lost touch with it all. Two of the boys convicted lived directly across the street from me. My kids were younger so didn’t really have contact with them. My youngest daughter was friends with their little sister though.
Basically, it was a short teenaged brawl, except one kid ended up dead. The aftermath is the real tragedy though I think. The teenagers involved all got life without parole under California’s Felony Murder rule. Now mind you, one of those kids did kill someone, the others did not. Whether it was during the commission of a crime is questionable. No, I guess buying pot is a crime but the prosecution asserted that they went there to steal pot. Then there is the fact that the one who died was the son of a LAPD officer. Upstanding young man he was, hanging out with a drug dealer. They were all troubled youths but now they have had their entire lives taken away. The parents of the one who died are very bitter and vindictive and seem to think this was an appropriate punishment. It won’t bring their son back. He was clearly no angel himself, I wish they could see it for what it was.
I’ve been working on Prison News Blog and it really brought me back to the injustice for these boys. There was a 60 minutes episode on this case that is excellent (see below), it’s too bad prison sentences are so hard to amend. Documentary filmmaker William Gazecki examines this case in the documentary Reckless Indifference, it’s a good movie to see.
Is prison for punishment or rehabilitation? To me, there are priorities:
- To keep society safe from serial offenders; murderers, rapists and violent predators. Lock them up permanently, no second chances. But do you know how many child predators are released after very short sentences?
- Punishment. Yes, I think many crimes deserve the punishment of incarceration for a period of time. But having people languishing in prison for years for non-violent crimes, that is a crime itself.
- Rehabilitation. It’s something we had better start trying to work on. Our prison system now has more than 1 out of every 100 adults incarcerated. Most do not deserve long prison sentences but helping them learn skills so they can be successful on release would be in this countries best interest.
More reading on the case from Brandon Hein’s website. His parents have been the most vocal about getting the word out to the world. I hope these boys see justice someday. Even the one who killed, in the heat of the moment, protecting his brother, does not deserve life without parole. Rolling stone magazine had an article titled “Lynching in Malibu” that explains the facts of the case, including the fact that the brawl took about 60 seconds.
A petition for Brandon Hein here. I’d like to see one for all of them. This recent article is from a minister who came to know Brandon while he was awaiting trial.
There are many kinds of injustice. It’s an injustice that a boy is dead because of a stupid fight. It’s an injustice that the rest have lost their freedom for the rest of their lives for the same stupid fight. It’s an injustice that we let repeat predators loose everyday and then keep these people locked up for life.
