13 Year Old Floridian Faces JUDGMENT Day..

[nycdefender]

TXCol, I don't think that the child-cookiejar analogy is very good. The child cries because he knows that he is going to be punished--not because he is in the throes of a moral dilemma!
I admit that stats are hard to come by. I know that I have clients that will be part of the system for their entire lives. For some, it's because they are truly bad people. For others, it's economic. After clients get out of state jail, almost none of them have any means of financial support. So many of them sell drugs or burgle again. Personally, I would probably try to do better with my life if I were in the same situation. But maybe that's why I'm on one side of the bars!
I also have a ton of clients that have mental illnesses that they system refuses to treat. I just had a burglar that got a very long sentence. He's extremely dangerous (bipolar) when he's not on meds and self-medicating with crack. When he was on his meds, he was perfectly calm. If the system were better designed to meet the mental health needs of many of my clients, I'm sure that many of my clients would be reformed. (For some reason you repeated "conform." I'm only speculating that you meant reform.)
But to say that we should lock people up and throw away the key seems to be an oversimplified answer--one that refuses to tackle the tough issues of mental health and economic disenfrancihisement.
I am not saying that those are the only two issues that face many of my clients. There are probably many others. And I am not using those issues as an excuse for their behavior. I just think that those issues should mitigate any sentence that they could receive. And they are areas that the system must explore, if the system truly wishes to seek justice.

 

[strongchick]

No one that I can see has mentioned the sad fact that our children are screwed up in the head because adults are showing them screwed up behavior.

The leaves don't fall far from the tree. We are all responsible for our children's behavior. Our society is a gun-toting, violence-loving, kill for money/fame world. This kid repeated what he's seen.

And by the way...whether or not the jury was black or not doesn't matter...blacks can be prejudiced against other blacks too.

You people who are for capital punishment of a child should be pitied...if you are in a situation where you commit a crime out of passion...do you want to be fried?

Any of us is capable of committing a crime of passion...none of us knows for sure how we will react in certain situations. And we are adults...

 

[nycdefender]

I don't think that Ryan should be flamed for mentioning the kid's race. Race does matter in the criminal justice system. For instance, I have never had a white client convicted after trial. The jurors in Manhattan are predominately white and seem to be more willing to apply the presumption of innocence to a white defendant than to a defendant of color. My experience is not that unique. All of my colleagues usually agree that there are certain types of cases that we would be more likely to win, if our clients were white.
But I think that in homicide cases, juries aren't as biased when it comes to issues of guilt/innocence, as opposed to when they decide punishment. An Alabama study found that a vast majority of the time, a black defendant who killed a white victim would receive the death penalty. The percentage dropped when a black person killed another black person. The percentage of the imposition of the death penalty dropped even lower when a white defendant was convicted of killing a white victim. And, yes, the statistic was even lower when a white defendant killed a black person.
I agree that race should not matter. Unfortunately, it is an ugly factor that is considered in our criminal justice system.

 

[TxCollegeguy]

I used the word conform cause thats the impression I get from people I have known to have gone to prison or met once they left. I knew a guy very well who stole a car to drive 2 buddies to go rob a guy. One of the brothers was mentally ill and ended up killing some people in the house of the person they went to rob, the 2 brothers were put on death row, and the guy I knew is spending life in prison. Do I feel sorry for him you bet. He had no clue people were going to be killed, but it happened. I still feel sorry for his parents and especially is brother whom I was good friends with.

I feel the worst for the people who were killed in that house. Their loved ones can do nothing but live the rest of their lives the best they can.

The guy was only 16 when he stole this car....Do you think a 13 yr old knows less then a 16 yr old? Reguardless if he knew it....A crime is still a crime. If your convicted be prepared to serve whats handed to you.

By conforming you do what you can to convince people in charge you are changed and couldn't do it again. Reforming would mean you have actually changed who you are in the process of your time in prison. Something I seriously doubt happens even in the best of circumstances

 

[MR.?]

I live about 5 minutes from Lake Worth Middle School were the shooting occurred and have followed this case closely and objectively well before its inception into mainstream American media.

This trial was very complex. When dealing with adolescent crime finding a fair and just punishment can become tedious and heartbreaking. Adolescent crime should be handled properly and the statutes applied appropriately when sentencing.

Most states have recognized that crimes committed by juveniles fall under different statutes than those crimes committed by their adult counterparts. However these laws are often undermined and applied unequally in many states such as Florida. Florida as well as states like Texas and Michigan have recently shown no regard or leniency to juvenile or handicapped offenders.

I believe this is due to the bureaucracy that can be found within our justice system. Politics nor the vengeful attitudes of the American public should ever become a force in determining the fate of a young offender. As many well know, politics and bureaucratic selfishness have become second nature amongst politicians in Palm Beach County within the past few years.

A 13 year old child is far from becoming a developed adult. Psychologists as well as sociologists recognize many of the mitigating factors that mold and can corrupt young influential children. We cannot ignore societies influence nor more importantly can we ignore a parents responsibility in raising and guiding children throughout their most venerable years.

I pray that Nathaniel Brazil receives treatment and is provided support while in prison. Prison is no place for 13 year old child. Prison will only hamper his chances of healing and recovery.

 

[chesty]

If one murders then one goes to jail or dies. What about the two white kids 10 and 13 I believe from Arkansas (?) They sniped their class mates and so on and killed how many? They are gonna get life. The DA would have preferred death, but can't execute a minor.

We also in Kansas, sent a bitch boy to jail for 40 years no parole (he was 13 at the time) for murdering Kevin Easter, a Sheriff's Deputy just 1 mile from my home and right after I joined the S/O.

They appealed his conviction saying that Kevin's wife inflamed the jury and biased them into a harsher sentence. At his retrial he recieved more convictions and more time.

This thing with bias is bullshit. It is a democratic/liberal attempt at inflaming peoples attitudes towards punishment.

Jail is for punishment. That is what it was created for. Not rehabilitation. You want to rehabilitate? That is like curing the disease by waiting for it to occur.

Find out what is wrong with society and fix it. And it isn't guns or drugs. It is much worse.

It is the gov't (liberal in general) that feels that we need to be governed and told what to do because we are incapable of governing ourselves and deciding what is best for us.

 

[chesty]

The problem is the gov't feels that it must tell us how to raise our children. It does not feel we are capable. Just look at Hillary's book, It takes a village. No, it does not take a village, it takes one or two adults with responsibility to raise a child, period.

The more the gov't conitnues to interfere with our parental rights the more we will see this sort of thing.

 

[McBainXVII]

i just heard bout this on the news, but im staying out of this one.

 

[RyanH]

The problem is the gov't feels that it must tell us how to raise our children. It does not feel we are capable. Just look at Hillary's book, It takes a village. No, it does not take a village, it takes one or two adults with responsibility to raise a child, period.

The more the gov't conitnues to interfere with our parental rights the more we will see this sort of thing.

We see what parental rights has given us: murdered and abused children. The government must play a more active role in the rearing of children since many parents seem incapable of doing an adequate job of raising their children.

Sure, the right to parent is a constitutional right, but it is not absolute----it has limits, all relating to the failure of a parent to give their child proper education, nutrition, or mental health.

As Hillary Clinton said, "It does take a village" to raise our children to become better citizens...

 

[Warik]

We see what parental rights has given us: murdered and abused children. The government must play a more active role in the rearing of children since many parents seem incapable of doing an adequate job of raising their children.

I'm speechless.

I can't outright flame you because part of me is certain that you're portraying the extreme insane leftist expecting everyone to flame you and then laugh later and say you were just kidding and that you could never be capable of uttering such nonsense seriously, but the other part of me wants me to flame you into next week for such utter lunacy.

I have no choice... there is only one thing left to do: