Pros And Cons Of Jensen

Imagine a child of six years committing a heinous crime, and the child is sentenced to life in prison without the slightest possibility of parole. Countless people will argue that the child should not be sentenced to life because his/her mind is not entirely developed, and the juvenile has the ability to be transformed into a preferred (productive?) individual of society. This is a greater preference because children are the next generation and should be salvaged rather than become a “lost cause”. However, numerous people will argue otherwise if a teenager committed the same heinous crime as the child. In the court case of Erik Jensen, seventeen years of age, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole after an extremely biased trial.

In Ybanez’s defense, he suffered through a rough childhood and two abusive parents. Often times he would accomplish nothing academically since he had a poor school life and bad grades. His father would harshly beat him, and his mother was frightened that her husband could do more serious harm. Ybanez was also very depressed and suicidal that he could not control himself, or his actions. His mother had also started to sexually abuse Nathan when he got older because she complained he would not spend enough time with her. Sometimes Ybanez would be so depressed that he would even have the urge to kill his parents, but he never did until later when he was at his breaking point. Nathan did not get enough support or counseling because no one cared for his issues. Erik Jensen, a close friend, had tried to get police investigators involved to explore what was happening in Nathan Ybanez’s life, but no investigation took place since it was not a priority. Jensen and his family were the only people who cared for Nathan’s well-being, and they tried to get help, but no one would come to his rescue (Bikel). Part of the reason Ybanez murdered his mother was because he could not handle the stress and issues he was given from his family and general life. He killed his mother saying that she could no longer abuse him, and she never gave much effort to protect her son from her husband. During Ybanez’s trial, his lawyer was hired by his father, who never truly cared much for his son (“When Kids Get Life”). Some people may say that this act could be an intention of sabotage to purposely lose the case and sentence the client to life in prison. Ybanez’s lawyer did not put enough effort to help him prove that he desperately needed counseling to help with his issues so he would not have killed his mother. Ybanez had also tried to save Erik Jensen from any consequences, claiming that he had not part