OP-ED: When the Sentence Fits the Crime But Not the Kid [JJIE.org]

Samantha Sangenito 1/27/154:00 AM

Oscar was 16 when he and a friend robbed a man at gunpoint.

In Georgia, armed robbery with a firearm goes straight to adult court. It also means a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison unless transferred by the prosecutor to juvenile court.

The prosecutor saw what I saw — five years in a youth prison was better than 20 years in an adult prison for a kid like Oscar. We were doing him a favor. So I thought.

I was baffled when I first met Oscar. He was the antithesis of a juvenile gone horribly awry for any number of criminogenic causes. His personality mirrored the way he looked and talked — handsome, respectful, articulate and intelligent.

Why would a good kid do such a stupid and violent thing?

[For more of this story, written by Steven Teske, go to http://jjie.org/op-ed-when-the...-not-the-kid/108270/]

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