Parole denied for kids who get life (Florida)

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Thu, Apr. 01, 2004

LEGISLATURE


Parole denied for kids who get life

Despite a tentative endorsement from Gov. Jeb Bush, a proposal to allow some juveniles serving life sentences a chance at parole after eight years is dead.

BY BETH REINHARD

[e-mail]


TALLAHASSEE - Republican lawmakers squashed a bill Wednesday that would have given juveniles sentenced to life in prison a ''possibility for redemption,'' even though Gov. Jeb Bush favored the measure.

The bill was inspired by Lionel Tate, thought to be the youngest American ever given a life sentence. He was 12 when he killed 6-year-old playmate Tiffany Eunick in his mother's Pembroke Park home.

After an appeals court overturned the guilty verdict, a plea deal freed Tate from prison in January after serving three years.
(snip)

State Sen. Steve Geller, D-Hallandale Beach, first proposed the bill three years ago and thought he had a reasonable chance this year after winning the governor's tentative endorsement. However, a Senate committee shot down the measure by a 4-2 vote along party lines.
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/8326125.htm

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. They don't want to give anyone a second chance

Especially children. Especially poor children. Especially minorities. But I bet if any of them ever get into any trouble they can't buy their way out of, they'll be pleading for mercy!

Don't they know that the brain doesn't fully develop until the late teens, if not later? And we're talking about the part that controls higher levels of thought and reasoning!

Makes me wonder if the compassion lobe ever developed in these legislators.