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Lionel Tate Back in Prison Tate, who is now 19, was convicted of beating Tiffany Eunick to death in 1999 when he was 12, claiming he accidentally killed the 6-year-old girl while imitating pro wrestling moves he had seen on television. He had been freed under a deal in which he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 10 years probation. Since his release in 2004 he has had several run-ins with the law. He was back in court last week over the armed holdup of a pizza deliveryman in May, 2005. ++++++++++ Locked Up at Fifteen, Prosecuted as an Adult, Eleven Years Later He’s Free and Coping -- More or Less
Minnesotan Stephen Glaze was among the first juveniles to be prosecuted as an adult under a new get-tough Minnesota law. Eleven years later he’s out of jail and trying to become a member of the community. He’s been looking for work for four months. ++++++++++ When a Child Says He’s a Killer
A Georgia case brings up questions about stiff juvenile penalties for murder. A 12-year-old (now 14) who was locked up for strangling 8-year-old Amy Yates has been released and a mentally disabled 18-year-old who was minor at the time of the crime has confessed. Authorities don’t know which youth, if either, should be held accountable. The father of the girl is struggling to see justice served both for his daughter and the two young suspects.
++++++++++ When Kids Commit Crimes: What’s a Fair Sentence?
On April 3 NPR host Margot Adler spoke with Barry Feld and other experts about the current state of juvenile justice administration in the U.S .This episode of the Justice Talking program looks at how teenage criminals are sentenced, at teens serving life sentences without the possibility of parole, and others who are serving sentences in adult facilities.
You can listen to the program on NPR or read/download a transcript of it at the Justice Talking web site.
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The Rest of Their Lives: Life without Parole for Child Offenders in the United States
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International spent a year in detailed research to determine the number of young offenders sentenced to life without possibility of parole in the United States. While there appear to be about a dozen youth serving the sentence in the rest of the world, the data they gathered show that there are at least 2,225 youth offenders serving life without parole in the United States. They are predominantly male (2.6% are female). The majority are African-American (60%). Sixteen percent committed their crimes when they were fifteen or younger. There is a great variation in the rate at which youth receive the sentence in each state.
A brief version of the report (5 pages) is available to read this week only on Corrections.com.
The full text report, an executive summary, photos and other information are available at the Human Rights Watch web site (click on link above). The full report pdf file is 167 pages long.
++++++++++ Teen Who Killed Family Is Sentenced as a Juvenile
Cody Posey was sentenced February 23, 2006, as a juvenile and will be held in state custody until he turns 21. Posey was 14 when he shot his father, stepmother and 13-year-old stepsister on the southern New Mexico ranch where his father worked as a foreman. Judge James Waylon Courts found that the teen suffered from PTSD and that the state failed to prove Posey could not be rehabilitated. ++++++++++ Lionel Tate Pleads Guilty Today
A plea bargain in which Tate pleaded guilty to robbing a pizza delivery man spared him from a possible life sentence for violating his probation in the 1999 killing of a 6-year-old playmate when he was 12. At sentencing on April 3 Tate could get 10 to 30 years in prison. ++++++++++ Lionel Tate Hearing Postponed for Psychiatric Exam A probation violation hearing that could send Tate back to prison for life was postponed on Monday after he told a judge he was suicidal and wanted a psychiatric evaluation. Tate was charged with armed robbery after a pizza deliveryman said he had seen Tate hiding with a handgun behind the open door of an apartment. ++++++++++ The Rest of Their Lives: Life Without parole for Child Offenders in the United States The new Amnesty International/Human Rights Watch joint report examines the lives of the 2,225 child offenders serving life sentences without parole in U.S. prisons for crimes committed before they turned 18. The report’s findings include these: 59% of the convictions were for first time offenders. Black children are sentenced to LWOP ten times more often than white children. An estimated 26% of child offenders were convicted of “felony murder,” which holds that anyone involved in the commission of a serious crime during which someone is killed is also guilty of murder, even if he or she did not personally or directly cause the death. The 26 states with mandatory LWOP sentencing account for the overwhelming majority of child LWOP cases.
You will find a link to the Executive Summary and Fact Sheets on the right side of your screen at the link above. Click here to see how the report rates your state. Read Washington Post story on the report here. ++++++++++ Life Sentences for Americans Who Committed Their Crimes Before They Could Vote About 9,700 American prisoners are serving life sentences for crimes they committed before they could vote, serve on a jury or gamble in a casino. Juvenile criminals who committed crimes before they turned 18 are serving life terms in at least 48 states. The United States is one of only a handful of countries that sentences adolescents who committed their crimes under the age of 18 to life without parole. A recent Human Rights Watch/Amnesty International poll found the same situation in only three other countries. Israel has seven prisoners, South Africa has four, and Tanzania has one. In the United States, the report said, there are 2,200 people serving life without parole for crimes they committed before turning 18. More than 350 of them were 15 or younger. ++++++++++ Lionel Tate Arrested in Pizza Burglary
Lionel Tate, whose first-degree murder conviction in 2001 made him the youngest person sentenced to life without parole in the United States, was arrested Monday night after a pizza deliveryman said the 18-year-old robbed him at gunpoint in Pembroke Park, Florida. ++++++++++ A Shift in Juvenile Sentencing and a Look at Juvenile Rights Lawmakers Rethinking Hard Line on Sentencing of Young Offenders Bolstered by ongoing and recent medical and scientific studies of early brain development, many in the criminal-justice system are taking the position that juveniles should not necessarily be doomed to long prison terms for crimes they committed when their brains were not yet fully wired. A Killer at 14, He Remembers No life But Prison 28-year-old Jeremiah Bourgeois was just 14 when he fatally shot a mini-mart owner who had testified against his brother in a robbery trial in 1992. Although Bourgeois’ offenses prior to the shooting were so minor he had never spent one night in juvenile detention, he was charged as an adult with aggravated murder. Ruling Shifts Debate on Young Killers The Supreme Court’s ruling on the execution of young killers raises more questions: If execution is improper, why is life without parole any more appropriate? If juvenile offenders are fundamentally different from adults, why shouldn’t they be offered rehabilitative treatment? Can adolescent killers be rehabilitated? And should that be the goal? Judge Looks at the Release of Nathaniel Abraham Nathaniel Abraham was 11 years old, stood 4 feet 9 inches tall, and weighed 65 pounds when he shot and killed Ronnie Green outside a convenience store in Pontiac, Michigan.. Judge Eugene Arthur Moore has watched him become a 19-year-old young man. He has overseen his years of rehab and training and hopes it is readying him for the adult world he’ll enter in less than two years. Moore says, “Most of us…make it because we had somebody – whether it’s a parent, if we’re lucky, or a teacher or a coach or a piano teacher – that we believe cared about us. If we think that people care about us, then we begin to care about ourselves.” Judge Moore is a past president of NCJFCJ.
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