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From Elizabeth Chuck
In Texas, a 12-year-old boy was charged with murder as a result of being convicted of the murder of the home of a professional boxer. The boy could face a maximum penalty of 40 years old if he is found guilty, a sentence that juvenile justice advocates hope to avoid.
24-year-old boxer John Duane VanMeter was killed at his home Wednesday evening, police said in Uvalde, Texas.
Witnesses told NBC-affiliated San Antonio that a man had been seen fleeing, dressed in black and covered in a black bandanna. part of his face before being transferred to the Juvenile Detention Center in Jourdanton
. The police did not identify the suspect. Many legal experts told NBC News that they thought he was one of the youngest to be charged with murder, the most serious type of crime.
The charge of qualified murder is different from that of first degree murder because it usually involves special circumstances. , as a kidnapping or murder of a firefighter or police officer on duty.
In the case of the boy from Uvalde, prosecutors probably considered the theft a special circumstance, said Mandy Miller, a lawyer in the Houston area. which represents several minors who were convicted of high-profile murder years ago and are trying to get a reduction in their sentence.
"It is common for district law firms to sue for the authority they believe to be able to do.," Miller, who is not involved in the case. Uvalde case, said. "This case will obviously be complicated."
In states such as Texas that apply the death penalty, crimes committed by adults accused of qualified murder are punishable by the death penalty. In the United States, a 2005 Supreme Court case banned capital punishment for minors.
Jason Chein, a professor of psychology at Temple University, studied the brain development and decision-making of these teens. Supreme Court of biological differences between the brain of adolescents and that of adults.
"We observe that impulse control continues to develop at least until towards the middle of late adolescence.You will even find improvements in pulse control up to 16 C & # 39; is when the situation begins to stabilize and look like that of an adult, "he said.
Young offenders, like the boy in Texas, have a great capacity for social reintegration if they have the proper tools, Chein added. 19659007] "The science is clear here, it is possible for an individual who exhibits abnormal behavior at age 12, a behavior that concerns us socially, to continue to be cleansed and become a Chein said Chein.
Such is the position shared by Lindsey Linder, Senior Criminal Justice Attorney for the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition
"When you say a 40-year sentence for a skilled murder, it may not shock someone's conscience. ;a. But for someone 12 years old, you are almost four times older than he is currently serving, "she said, noting that the US Sentencing Commission considered that 39, 470 months or more was a life sentence. "" Obviously, I do not know the details of this case, but I would certainly implore the district attorney's office to carefully consider the extenuating circumstances. "
Steven Halpert, head of the juvenile affairs division of Harris County, Texas, the public defender's office, who does not supervise Uvalde, said the Texas law did not allow the boy to be tried as an adult since he was under the age of 14.
Instead, Halpert stated that prosecutors could stand before a grand jury and get what's called a defining sentence that will allow them to ask for up to 40 years in prison – which will allow them to keep the young man in the justice system once he has served his sentence, even though he is being tried by a juvenile court, "he said. boy would not be sentenced to such a long time.
"It takes a serious rehabilitation if the 12-year-old committed this crime."
"With a 12-year-old boy, you talk about the crime." absolute lower extremity of brain development. People may say that it's a heinous crime – it's obvious that someone is dead, it's horrible – but I do not care who this 12 year old teenager is, he can not imagine the consequences of his actions at this age, "he said, never appropriate, put a 12-year-old in prison for 40. If the 12-year-old had indeed committed this crime, it was to be seriously rehabilitated. "
The Supreme Court also took into account the age of offenders in other cases, including a 2012 decision that overturned laws that required sentencing to death persons found guilty of murder without the possibility of parole.
Linder stated that the court needed to know more about the other factors involved in the boy's life in order to make a conviction decision.
Someone of this young person, I think you have time to work with them and see if you can not tackle the root cause of harm and put them on the right path, rather than just a moment, a mistake, and you throw
"Even children who commit the most heinous offense are capable of reeducation."
She suggested that young people like him be placed in safe institutions that "look as therapeutic and residential as possible". and receive re-education th It is tailored to individual needs, as opposed to juvenile prisons that resemble those for adults.
"I hope that the prosecutor's office responsible for prosecuting this case has put in place processes for reporting on youth," Linder said. "Because even children who have committed the most heinous offense are able to rehab."
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