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When Kids Get Life Essay

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Recommended: Juveniles and young adults in prison

The concept of injustice has always been something that has infuriated me, especially when experienced by juveniles. One particular example is portrayed in a documentary called When Kids Get Life, which I watched during an undergraduate juvenile delinquency course. This documentary, and the injustice it portrays, ignited my passion to stand up for unjust policies and laws against juveniles. In When Kids Get Life, produced by PBS, FRONTLINE producer Ofra Bikel traveled to Colorado in 2007 to document a story about five individuals who were sentenced to life without parole as juveniles. The stories of Nathan Ybanez and Erik Jensen were the ones to make a life-long impression on me. In 1998, these two men were high school students living in …show more content…

This is a criminal justice issue I have come to be passionate about and is inadequately addressed. Injustice is an imminent issue across all ages, however, I believe it especially salient for juveniles, as most of these adolescents are helpless and come from abusive environments where they have no one advocating on their behalf. I believe what infuriated me the most with the case of Erik and Nathan was how many mitigating circumstances were overlooked. While such circumstances do not excuse or justify the behavior of Erik or Nathan, especially, I do believe that the weight of these conditions are something in which deserves more attention to especially when deciding the fate of an individual who has not even fully developed mentally or physically yet. As a child we are clearly not held to the same standards as an adult and this is with a just cause. To say that an adolescent knows right from wrong in every situation is completely unjust in itself, especially when mitigating circumstances, such as, growing up with an abusive parent occur. Policies within the juvenile justice system are far too often implemented without empirical based evidence to support them, which has resulted in cruel and unusual punishments. Juveniles, such as Nathan and Erik, need individuals to advocate on their behalf and help relieve the injustice experienced by juveniles Therefore, I would like to devote my career

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