For the Portfolio Project I am choosing Option 2; Refuting that “justice” was achieved. I will draw upon my own concept of justice, the legal concepts of justice, studies, articles and empirical research to allow for my conclusion. Furthermore, I will consider the victims, (plural), and the impact of Richards sentence on his life. The Case of Richard Mijares At the outset of this class we were instructed to watch videos of Richard Mijares, a youthful offender who shot and killed his mother when he was aged seventeen years. This crime was committed at the family residence in Woodland Park, Colorado a short drive northwest of Colorado Springs, Colorado. In the videos Richard admits committing the crime and later disposing of the body. An article in December 2011, 5280 Magazine entitled Direct Fail concerning Colorado’s …show more content…
They had an argument, and he went downstairs with a gun to think-to see, really, if he had the guts to shoot himself in the head. When his mother, still arguing, came down the stairs, he just pointed the gun at her and squeezed. He wrapped her corpse in a blanket, buried her some 15 miles away, and spent a week pretending she was missing for the cops. It didn’t work, he eventually confessed”. (Gardner,N., 5280 Magazine, December, 2011, pg. 183). It is unknown whether the author’s research includes court documents, trial transcripts or she watched Richards videos herself but this is the same account Richard makes on the videos. The article goes on, on page 184, to say “We’ll never know what a psychiatrist would have said about Mijares’ mental health when he agreed to a plea bargain. Or how Mijares’ lifetime of abuse impacted his mind on the day of the murder. Mijares says his father would beat his mother, beat her so badly…(edit for space)…..He recalls a time when he dropped a clean sock on the garage floor and was beaten.