Florida leads in sending young people to prison for life without parole...for nonhomicide crimes.

[madfloridian]

Florida is unique in this tendency, the figures are alarming. Other states might do it, but not with the same intensity. There is a case pending before the Supreme Court in November to address this issue.

The director of a legal aid group who is a lawyer for one of these juveniles summed up the situation well way down in the article.

"Our argument is not that these kids can't be punished, can't be sent to prison for a very long time," Stevenson said. "But to make a judgment that their sentences can never be reviewed for possible release is inconsistent with how we deal with kids in virtually ever other context."

Here are some statistics that alarmed me. I did not realize how often this happened in Florida.

Florida Stands Apart in Sentencing of Juveniles

Records indicate that Florida has sent far more juvenile criminals to prison for the rest of their lives for nonmurder crimes than have all other states combined. Florida has sentenced 77 young men to spend their lives in prison, without any chance of release, based on nonhomicide crimes they committed when they were 17 or younger, according to a preliminary study by Florida State University researchers. Six of those prisoners were 13 or 14 at the time of their crimes.

A Herald-Tribune review of state records shows that in Florida, some juveniles were given life without parole for as few as one or two convictions of nonhomicidal crimes.

Other findings about the sentences:

Only Florida has sent juvenile criminals away for life for burglary, battery and carjacking. Twenty-four of the 77 juvenile lifers were convicted for burglary, like Graham. Forty-six juveniles in Florida were given life for armed robbery.

"Florida's practice of sentencing juvenile offenders to life without parole for nonhomicide cases is unique among American states," said the preliminary research report directed by Paolo Annino, an FSU law professor who heads the school's Public Interest Law Center.

Why is it happening in Florida?

The state has made it easier to try juveniles as adults, while at the same time increasing the potential penalties for many crimes. Currently, Florida judges have the power to impose a life sentence without parole for more than 50 crimes. Many of the changes came in the 1990s, when Florida was hit with a highly publicized crime wave, including the killings of nine tourists in 1992 and 1993. A British tourist was killed during a robbery by a group of juveniles at an Interstate 10 rest stop in 1993 that drew international press attention.

Florida is known for harsh sentences for people of all ages, though. Some are totally over the line.

Harsh sentences given out in Florida

One example I have mentioned before is the work-release inmate who smuggled eight cans of beer into prison on Christmas Eve and was sentenced to serve an extra 15 years.

John E. Powell, 43 years old, who had been serving a sentence at the Lakeland Correctional Institution for bad checks and robbery, would have been eligible for parole next January. But on Monday, Judge J. Dale Durrance added 15 years to his sentence.

Of course there is a way out if you know the right people in law enforcement.

Overseeing the pretrial intervention program of the Polk State Attorney's Office, Arley Smith had the power to decide who violated conditions of the program and went to prison.

Smith got caught on tape giving one of his charges money and telling her that she could pay him back with weekly sex. It would be the "same situation" he'd had with other young women, he confided, unaware that this woman's step­father was a cop who had arranged for her to wear a wire.

With the recording of the sex-for-money deal in hand, the Lakeland police went to the Polk state attorney and said they wanted to continue surveillance of Smith and charge him. An assistant state attorney agreed, saying he saw a clear crime.

But State Attorney Jerry Hill balked, worrying aloud that Smith — a close friend who had worked in his office for more than 20 years — may have been entrapped and could lose his pension. A few days later, the police chief ordered the undercover surveillance stopped.

[sharesunited]

1. This is a "luxury" Florida cannot afford. Last I heard, they didn't even have a state income tax.

[Lorien]

47. We don't. We also have compleely worthless schools that base everything

on standardized testing. Overflowing classrooms too. Educate the population and you'll have less crime, but that idea has escaped most down here...beside, privatized prisons are for profit institutions, but the poorly educated fearful public doesn't mind getting fleeced for those.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. K&R

[madfloridian]

3. Here is an alarming case from the article

"While other young men were heading to college or finding their first jobs, at the age of 19, Terrance Graham entered a state prison, where he will spend the rest of his life. The Jacksonville man, in the words of his own lawyer, was "no angel." He was convicted of armed burglary as a 16-year-old. He violated his probation at 17 by fleeing police after suspected participation in a home invasion robbery. Everyone agreed that he should be punished. Corrections officials recommended a four-year sentence. Prosecutors demanded a 30-year term. But a judge imposed the harshest sentence a juvenile criminal could face in the United States: life without parole.

Remarkably, outside of Florida, no other prisoner in the United States is serving a life sentence without parole for a juvenile burglary conviction like Graham, who is now 22.

[imdjh]

5. a rapist and a repeat armed robber/burglar - I'm not bothered

The Court today announced that it would take up the cases of Joe Sullivan and Terrance Graham, both of whom are from Florida. As reported by CNN, Joe Sullivan was sentenced to life without possibility of parole for a rape committed when he was 13 years old. Terrance Graham, on the other hand, received the same LWOP sentence for a "violent home-invasion robbery while on parole for another felony" committed when he was 17 years old.

[orleans]

18. "I'm not bothered" -- that's cold n/t

[imdjh]

24. rape and armed robbery are cold- this isn't three-strikes, this isn't stealing a loaf of bread.

This isn't getting busted for stealing a fake Rolex that turns out to be real. This is rape, of a 72 year old woman, armed robbery, repeat offenses, etc...

If you actually have a case for objecting to these sentences then make it. How many shots at your family do these guys get?

[orleans]

41. .

"As reported by CNN, Joe Sullivan was sentenced to life without possibility of parole for a rape committed when he was 13 years old."

this is a child you're referring to. a child. 13 years old. not old enough to drive. not old enough to smoke. not old enough to drink, get married, join the army, or drop out of high school. not even in high school. what neglect or abuse did this kid suffer at the hands of an adult?

and you're so ready, willing and *eager* to trash him *for the rest of his life* for something he did when he was 13? you sound like as much of a child as he was.

[imdjh]

42. Old enough to commit armed burglary and rape.

And don't you love how the photo of him is in a wheelchair? You're being played.

He raped a 72 year old woman. Whether he is a sociopath or simply a criminal getting an early start is of no interest to me.

you sound like as much of a child as he was

kma

[orleans]

46. i didn't see a photo of him--so i wasn't being "played" as you so

ignorantly put it.

i had to google his name in order to see a photo--and now that i see it, i can't help but think there is some racism going on here, not only on the part of the court if you get my drift--*i* didn't know this person was black--apparently you did.

"But Sullivan's lawyer said there remains "a lot of doubt" about whether his then-13-year-old client raped the elderly woman or whether the crime was carried out by one of his accomplices. Sullivan's lawyers had asked for DNA evidence in the case to be reviewed but state said it had been destroyed in 1993.

http://www.theledger.com/article/20090809/NEWS/908095016/1410?Title=Fla-Stands-Apart-in-Sentencing-of-Juveniles

would you be so self righteous and eager to throw away this kid's life if he was white? or would he be "playing" all of us because he was in a wheelchair?

[imdjh]

48. Does that really work in your world?

[orleans]

49. ...

:puke:

[imdjh]

50. Ever more clever with every post, aren't you?

What next ? Roll eyes?

[tocqueville]

23. I see that medieval mentality still rules nt

[katkat]

25. I'm not bothered either.

Rapists should go to jail forever, with the key thrown away, in my opinion. Weep for the victim, who will be scarred emotionally for the rest of her life, if you want to shed tears.

[Jkid]

4. kick

n/t

[Flaneur]

6. My brother died in prison doing bullshit Florida time.

I'd like to see that whole state's "criminal justice" system burnt to the ground.

[TommyPaine]

7. Sorry to hear about that.

What Florida has imposed has nothing to do with justice, it's a way of trying to ameliorate the voting public’s anxiety over an increase in crime statistics and high-publicity cases. Of course these ridiculous sentences do nothing to quell crime. It’s a sickening abuse of power. A 15-year sentence add-on for smuggling beer? What’s next, a 5-year stint for serial jaywalking?

I’d like to see some of these judges thrown in the joint, let them see the fruits of their knee-jerk decisions. Maybe a little bit of empathy is in order here.

[Vidar]

9. I'm very sorry. The damned government belongs in jail.

[madfloridian]

10. That's very sad.

Sorry to hear that.

[GodlyDemocrat]

14. What was your brother was charged and convicted for

n/t

[Flaneur]

30. My brother was not exactly an upstanding citizen.

Went to prison at 18 for selling an ounce of pot.

Developed into an alcoholic. Developed a lengthy criminal record almost entirely related to his alcoholism. He got drunk once and stole a motorcycle, made it about 50 yards before toppling the bike in a ditch and passing out beside it. Went to prison for that.

Got out. Went to Florida. Got drunk and kicked in an acquaintance's apartment door. Because he had a knife on his belt, that turned into armed burglary. Five year sentence. He served three years, was paroled home to the upper Midwest. Got drunk, got a DWI, got jail time back home. Did his jail time, then Florida extradited him back as a parole violator. He did more time in Florida, got out went back home on parole. Got a job and moved in with the mother of his son. Eventually got drunk and got another DWI. Did a year in prison back home. Got out, then Florida extradited him back again as a parole violator. Sentenced him to MORE TIME (how they did that I never did figure out). He had just about finished that and was dreaming of going home to his family again when, six years ago, he fell over dead in the prison yard of a brain aneurysm. He had been complaining of headaches for weeks; they gave him aspirin.

What Florida did to my brother was all legal, but I have a hard time believing it was right or just.

It also doesn't make sense from a Florida fiscal standpoint. The low-level criminal had done his time and moved 2,000 miles away. Yet Florida invested thousands of dollars to fight repeatedly to extradite him, just so they could spend tens of thousands more to keep him in their gulag. Tell me, Floridians, is that really how you want to spend your tax dollars?

[katkat]

31. sorry, but

I am very sorry about your brother. And there is no question medical care in prison is bad, although I am sure they have a lot of extra difficulty separating out real from not. And that alcoholism is a disease and what to do with alcoholics who do not rehab and are a danger to others is unclear. It is very lucky no one died when he was driving drunk multiple times.

But armed burglary? "Had a knife in his belt"? This is not a low level criminal from the point of an outside observer. A low level criminal does not have violent offenses. With a violent repeat offender and someone who is a repeated danger to others on the road, the state has a vested interest in keeping that person out of society.

[madfloridian]

32. So are you saying you support life w/o parole for nonhomicide crimes?

Which is what I was writing about?

Or do you think life w/o parole is for anyone the judge chooses?

[katkat]

51. I support life in prison for some non-homicide crimes

For example, a habitual violent offender. I don't know the state of the California three violent crimes and you get life law, but I certainly support that idea. Similarly for vicious crimes of violence - disabling beatings, rapes, various crimes against children, etc. Society is much safer without such criminals on the streets, and in my view they have given up their right to be in society by committing such crimes.

[Flaneur]

37. As I said, not exactly an upright citizen.

Yeah, "armed burglary" sounds pretty scary. But it was really just a drunk guy kicking his friend's door in while wearing a sheathed 4-inch knife on his belt.

No, no one died because he drove drunk. Thank goodness.

But what I don't understand is what interest the state of Florida had in continuing to drag him back there from 2,000 miles away to keep doing more time. One could, I suppose, argue that altruistic Florida officials were so concerned about drunk driving victims in the upper Midwest that they felt it was necessary. (This after local authorities where he committed his DUIs had punished him with more jail and prison time.) Alternately, and more realistically, one could argue that Florida's criminal justice system just kept grinding mindlessly on.

[Vidar]

8. I'd call it "Jeb's Gulag" but Crist is in charge now.

[Heidi]

11. Recommended.

:kick:

[madfloridian]

12. I am waiting for people to weigh in to tell me they deserved the life w/o parole.

It happens everytime, no matter how detailed the OP, not matter how qualified the defenses.

This country has changed until the harsher the penalty the better except for crooked politicians, corrupt bankers, and insurance execs who get rich by denying people care.

And I forgot the ones who took us to war on lies and organized the torture schemes.

[Heidi]

13. I know, I know, but you won't hear that from me.

But I know exactly what you mean.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6264919

[madfloridian]

15. Oh, my, I see what you mean.

Thanks for the link, it sort of opened my eyes.

Florida is also one of the worst offenders for putting the mentally ill in prison without medication and expecting them to get better there.

[imdjh]

26. Maybe if you stayed on your own topic you would get on topic responses.

Your other article lists Jennifer Porter for comparison with someone convicted of vehicular manslaughter. Are you incompetent or deliberate? Jennifer Porter didn't commit vehicular manslaughter nor was she ever charged with it. She left the scene of an accident with fatality, in other words the crime with which she was charged had no bearing on the outcome of the accident. That's quite unlike vehicular manslaughter in which the crime is the manslaughter.

The bankers and politicians have nothing to do with your attempt at a point here. You feel that these sentences are too harsh because "nobody got killed". The sentences reflect the fact that no one got killed, that's why the criminals weren't sentenced to death. I oppose the death penalty, but if it's going to make people like you think it's an excuse to move everything back a level, then maybe there is a reason for it. Our society regards kidnapping as a very serious crime. Kidnapping is part of every rape. Kidnapping is part of an armed robbery. Our society regards the willingness to kill in the commission of a crime as very serious. Someone who is going to commit a violent stranger rape (or participate in one) or armed robbery is presumed to be willing to kill the victim.

[sasquatch]

16. Where's William Tecumseh Sherman when we need him?

Another thing is, DON'T LIVE IN THE OLD CONFEDERACY!?

Got it, jackasses?

[dysfunctional press]

17. "Jerry Hill balked, worrying aloud that Smith...may have been entrapped and could lose his pension."

entrapped?

Smith got caught on tape giving one of his charges money and telling her that she could pay him back with weekly sex. It would be the "same situation" he'd had with other young women, he confided...

that's the kind of thing that makes me wish that there really was a hell.
besides florida itself, that is.

[madfloridian]

38. It is called blatant hypocrisy.

I notice you are the only one who mentioned it.

[orleans]

19. a bit off topic but...years ago someone gave me a copy of a law newspaper

(i forget the name of it)

someone had done some research on the criminal make-up in illinois

they listed criminals who were doing life or on death row (from what i remember)

it gave info on these criminals by race, crime convicted for, the race of the victim(s), the race and gender of the jury

what i found amazing and horrifying was that the majority of these guys (and they were all men) were black, their victim(s) were white and they were convicted by all white juries.

that was around the late seventies or early eighties.

in the nineties i was called to jury duty
i was in the jury pool for a particular case. the guy was being charged with breaking and entry. apparently he was in X town, had broken into a house, stolen the silverware, in ___ month.

a woman who was being considered for the jury was asked if she had ever been the victim of a crime. answer: yes. when did the crime occur? answer ___ month (same as guy being charged). asked what the crime was. answer: she was robbed. asked what was stolen. answer: silverware. asked what town she lived in. answer X town (same as guy being charged). asked if anyone had ever been caught. answer: no. asked: "DO YOU THINK YOU CAN BE FAIR AND IMPARTIAL WHILE JUDGING THIS CASE?" answer: YES!

i slapped my leg as i burst out laughing. it was crazy/absurd. i was told: no more outbursts but i couldn't help myself. it was a natural reaction.

people would like to think they're not prejudiced or biased, but....

[Union Yes]

20. Addiction to incarceration goes hand in hand with White Nationalism.

[imdjh]

45. "Forty-six juveniles in Florida were given life for armed robbery." AR is willing to murder for $50.

[Heidi]

21. Kick.

:kick:

[Libertas1776]

22. Once again

Florida proves itself to be the dick "state" of the United States (no pun intended).

[Old Time Pagan]

27. Why the surprise?

Simply the natural outcome of privatizing the prison system and running it for profit. What else could happen?

[WinkyDink]

28. For-profit prisons. Simple mathematics. (As Old Pagan posted above me! Duh!)

[madfloridian]

29. I am sure that has a lot to do with it.

but the fact that Florida is leading the way on this is upsetting.

[Old Time Pagan]

34. Follow the money baby, follow the money

You're upset? You don't understand why something is working a certain way in a certain location? You want to answer any question about a corporate entity's behavior in an unbridled capitalistic environment?

Follow the damn money, it's really that simple.

[imdjh]

43. Maybe Florida just has more than its share of dirtbags.

[Liberal_in_LA]

33. kick again! Important topic.

[mnhtnbb]

35. No mention of the breakdown by race for LWOP juveniles.

I wouldn't be surprised to see it heavily skewed with whites getting lighter sentences.

[madfloridian]

39. It was mentioned in the article.

"Florida's stance has generated protests from human rights groups and a lawsuit heading to the U.S. Supreme Court, which contends such sentences violate the Constitution's ban of cruel and unusual punishment. But the state shows little sign of stopping judges from imposing life sentences on juveniles. Lawmakers rejected a bill last spring that would have allowed juveniles in some nonhomicide cases to eventually become eligible for parole.

An analysis of Florida's sentencing practices also raises questions about whether race is a factor. While African Americans represent about 16 percent of Florida's population, 84 percent of juveniles sentenced to life without parole for nonhomicidal offenses were African-American.

[aikoaiko]

36. If they were violent crimes, then so be it.

If they were nonviolent, then its wrong.

[madfloridian]

40. I fully expect many to disagree. Our society and DU are demanding more punishment.

We are becoming a penal society.

I expected more to agree it was fine to give juveniles with nonmurder records life without parole.

You are in good company, my friend.

The mantra is fast becoming punish, punish, punish.

[imdjh]

44. Is this your new favorite nonword? "nonmurder" and "nonhomicide"

Blinding someone with acid is nonmurder. Gang rape can be nonhomicide. Child rape isn't usually fatal.

Got a touchy feely word for all that too?

[pattmarty]

52. AND, how many were OTW???? Have the courts look at that alone................

...........and I believe Flori-duh would be in deep shit.

[Orsino]

53. The state least willing to do the hard work of living alongside offenders...

...and most afraid of having their decisions revisited.

Come on, Floridians--you can be better than that.

[lib2DaBone]

54. Prison is a "For Profit" business in Florida...

..if the only tool you have is a hammer.. everything looks like a nail.

Many of Florida prisons are run by Geo Corp., which I think is the new corporate name for Wackenhut Inc.?

Florida is 51st in stimulas spending and last in job creation. A high school diploma in Florida is equivalent to a 10th grade education in other states. So what do they expect from thousands of latch-key kids?

Gov Crist and the Republicon Legislature did see fit to raise taxes on unemployed Floridian's this year by $2.2 Billion. They doubled the fees on everything from fishing licenses to drivers licenses and license plates. And of course State Govt will continue to hire more prosecuters, more police, more judges. In effect, more bureaucrats in need of something to justify their salary.. so god help anyone who goes before the court system.

[winyanstaz]

55. They also have a judge there that gives custody of children...

to men who have beat the crap out of their wives while the wives tried to protect the child with their own bodies.
My niece came home to WA state covered with bruises..and the florida judge still gave custody of the baby to the husband.
After a one month visit with the husband..the baby came back with a series of recently scabbed over puncture holes in the back of her head. The judge responded to the Dr's assessment of the baby without reading it or allowing it in court and gave TOTAL custody to the abuser..all based on the abusers testimony and with no regard to Dr's reports or to two other Dr's who had also tested and examined the mother (and found her mentally sound and fit)
The husband's own record of why he is on MENTAL DISABILITY (granted after something awful had happened at his place of work having to do with his rages) was not even looked at or allowed. He has "gone ballistic" on his own niece in the past when she was only 7 to quote his own words.
My niece is now battling for her daughters safety and lives in fear of her own.
Something is rotten in the state of Florida.