Recently in Florida, there was a murder. A fellow beat up a six year old little girl, and killed her. It was, by all accounts, a very violent death. The girl had multiple injuries, including such gruesome things as punctured livers and crushed vertebrae or something like that. All told, she had over thirty injuries. The guy was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. Apparently, this is a law in Florida. If you are convicted of first degree murder, the automatic sentence is life in prison without possibility of parole. The guy who did the killing, he's twelve years old. He was offered a plea bargain, with a sentence of three years in prison. His mother rejected the offer, thinking that the jury would never convict him. He's now looking at spending his entire life behind bars. So. The question is......is this right?

There's no doubt whatever that the crime this boy committed is heinous. He claimed he was just doing the wrestling moves that he saw on WWF. Now, that's a load of crap. A 12 year old knows what he's dong. He's not an idiot. This boy knew what he was doing. He killed a little girl.

The question is, should he be put away for life for something he did when he was 12? I mean....pretty harsh eh? But I mean....he was offered the plea bargain. So he had a chance. But he refused to take it. Probably there should not be a law that forces the judge to sentence the convict to life in jail. The whole point of having a judge in the first place is to decide the sentence. Isn't it? Hm. I don't think that the boy should go to jail for his entire life. A good long time. Maybe twenty years or something. But....not for life. I don't know. I can't seem to express my opinion eloquently enough.

Maybe it should depend on things like whether he'll be likely to reoffend. I don't really understand why they let people out with a warning that "they're likely to re-offend". I guess that's the length or their sentence or something. But...seems to me like letting a multiple rapist out who is likely to re-offend....is like sentencing some woman to getting raped. The government is aiding and abetting rape. Hmm. Of course, the flip side of the coin is the rights of the prisoner. But I've never really been a big fan of prisoner's rights. As I see it, if you start going around raping people, you pretty much lose your rights. But this is a totally different topic.

What about that guy who killed the little girl? Tough question.

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