When Florida judges sentence children tried as adults, they give them higher sentences on average for felony crimes than adult offenders
When Florida judges sentence children tried as adults, they give them higher sentences on average for felony crimes than adult offenders
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"You fucked up so bad that we're ignoring your age for trial/sentencing, but now that were here... Meh we'll just give you a slap on the wrist."
- Literally no judge ever.
we're ignoring your age for trial/sentencing
Actually
Florida is one of 13 states that give prosecutors unfettered power to try children as adults without getting sign-off from a judge
And your point is? How does that make what I said less true?
Well, there is the fact that it's only true because it isn't the judge that makes the decision about ignoring age for the purposes of the trial, it's the prosecutor.
Also, prosecutors don't really care about having the fairest trials possible and pursuing the truth as much as a judge does/is supposed to, they care about winning cases and looking tough on crime, so whether or not they decide to charge a juvenile as an adult has a lot more to do with those things than the seriousness of the underlying offense. Poor kids with public defenders and burglary charges get tried as adults because that's an easy win and opportunity to run up the scoreboard, while rich kids with fancy lawyers and sexual assault charges get a plea deal for court ordered counseling because anything else would be a ton of work and they might lose anyway.
Well, there is the fact that it's only true because it isn't the judge that makes the decision about ignoring age for the purposes of the trial, it's the prosecutor.
Did my post suggest that it was the judge making that decision? I only indicated that the judge was speaking in that hypothetical because judges are the ones who announce the sentencing. Don't put words in other people's mouths.