The appetite to punish is showing up in the Oxford, Michigan, shooting case. And once again, it shows that punishment of children is no exception. We are in a cycle of extreme punishment. Here are a couple of the reasons why:
Jail is the Biggest Repository for the Mentally Unhealthy
The boy’s behavior was called into question on the two days leading up to the shooting – a search for ammunition, and a drawing depicting blood and shooting. These behaviors show the need for an intervention. But the accused shooter had no prior disciplinary record with the school, not in the “normal” fashion.
Oxford’s Student Code of Conduct Handbook says: “A student will not convey any threat against a student, group of students, building or district”. An appropriate timely response must follow. Schools, and indeed society at large, are not equipped to deal with the mental anguish imposed by the gun culture. So, more “crazies” go to jail. This time, a kid. If he is not deeply mentally afflicted, he will be by the time he is released. If he is released.
The Judges and Psychiatrists Leadership Initiative identifies and recommends effective responses to mental illness once someone is in the justice system. Before and after system-intake, similar precepts could be applied.
Juveniles are Too Conveniently Tried as Adults
In Michigan, the prosecutor can make a unilateral decision to try the child as an adult. This ties the judge’s hands in important ways; the scale is inexorably tipped in favor of punishment. This overrides the more progressive judicial options to address mental issues. It also diminishes the science of the age-crime curve; teenagers are distinctly undeveloped mentally. The vast majority get away from crime and lead productive lives.
Children should not enter the system under a premise of incorrigibility. There is no upside. It translates to sentences of juvenile life without parole (LWOP). The Supreme Court recently ruled juvenile LWOP sentences are unconstitutional. Michigan leads the country (the world) in the number of such cases. The SCOTUS prompted Michigan to hold hearings for its crop of juvenile lifers; alternative sentences were to be considered. Michigan’s response to this corrective exercise seemed half-hearted. And now, Michigan looks ready to impose more.
The Appetite to Punish Must Be Curbed
Prosecutors righteously share the anger that boils in the community at the time of a horrible offense. But anger should not rule supreme indefinitely. When it does, it says more about the prosecutors than the perpetrators. In the case of Michigan juvenile lifer Efrén Paredes Jr., the prosecutor came out of retirement to handle the hearing and deny a re-sentencing. And Efrén’s case is not as clear cut or deadly as the Oxford shooting.
Punishment should not be a platform for people to build themselves up on the backs of others. Fortunes and opportunities are built on punishment, at the direct expense of justice and taxpayers. In context of weak legislation, law-and-order throw-away-the-key candidates make the problem worse. “Reform” candidates must do more than recite practiced words. Gratefully, Michigan’s Congress is showing hopeful signs.
To be a civilized leading country, American justice must transform to repair the broken people, rather than throw them away or exploit them. If the system can right itself, it will be more humane and far less costly. Where better to start than with our children?