Author James Baldwin speaks on juvenile justice by stating "For these are all our children. We will all profit by, or pay for, whatever they become.” Likely, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kayan states that giving life sentences to Juveniles prevents taking into account the child’s age, family, and home environment that surrounds them. However justice Alito disagrees and states that a seventeen year old should be held accountable for committing and atrocity such as murder. I agree with the majority of the Supreme Court who argued to abolish mandatory life in prison for Juveniles because their brains are not fully developed and they still have the ability to change. However, there are certain circumstances in which mandatory life in prison is necessary.
According to Paul Thompson, juveniles’ brains do not fully develop until they reach…show more content… For example, in the article “Greg Ousley is Sorry for Killing His Parents. Is That Enough?” the author, Scott Anderson, talks about a case involving a fourteen year old child who killed his parents because “they just did not understand him” (Anderson para. 12). Unlike Cyntoia Brown, Greg Ousley does not have a legitimate reason like self-defense for homicide. Some people who act or think like Greg Ousley are considered psychopaths. The dictionary definition of a psychopath is a person suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior. Ross Pomeroy in the article “Can Psycopaths Be Cured?” states that there is no known cure for psychopathy “No pill can instill empathy, no vaccine can prevent murder in cold blood, and no amount of talk therapy can change an uncaring mind. For all intents and purposes, psychopaths are lost to the normal social world” (Pomeroy) In this case, psychopaths would not be able to change their behavior. Therefore, if they commit murders repeatedly they should be sentenced to life in prison, even if they are
