Special Session 11 Punishment

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The start to such severe punishment for minors began with what is referred to as the “summer of violence” which took place in Denver, Colorado in 1993. During the summer of ’93, seventy four people were killed in Denver, due to an increase in violence caused by minors. In order to try to gain control of the situation and to put fear into the minors in order to keep them from committing such crimes the governor at the time requested a special session in order to try to change the laws about how minors could be processed after committing a crime. As a result of said special session 11 laws were passed. One of which gave prosecutors the right to file charges against minors between the ages of 14 and 17 (Gardner, 2011). The passing of these new laws changed the lives of thousands of children from then on out. Children tried as adults often face lengthy prison sentences sometimes as long as life without parole. Such sentences send the message to children that if they mess up that there is absolutely no hope for rehabilitation. The laws were originally placed in order to “scare kids straight” so to speak; it was to keep them from using violence because the fear that they could spend their life in prison. Yet, minors who commit accidental crimes or are an …show more content…

According to an article provided by nbcnews.com written by Alexander Smith, 5.5% of prison deaths in the U.S. in 2011 were suicides, which is more than homicides, overdoses, and accidents combined (Smith, 2013). Unfortunately, suicide prediction rates in general are very low (Fulero & Wrightsman, 2009, p. 142-143). I would imagine that this rate would have an even lower ability in prisons, due to inadequate testing, staff being shorthanded, and a limited number of people who actually care enough to notice the warning signs which would be another reason for the large number of deaths by suicide in the prison