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
Kids have more years to offer the system. Working as intended.
But thanks to Reaganomics, prison turned to profits
'Cause free labor's the cornerstone of US economics
'Cause slavery was abolished, unless you are in prison
You think I'm bullshittin, then read the 13th Amendment
Involuntary servitude and slavery it prohibits
That's why they givin' offenders time in double digits
-Killer Mike, Reagan
Could be that the crimes that lead to kids being tried as adults tend to be especially severe, warranting a longer sentence
The example listed, 40 years for armed robbery, seems definitely nuts. But by pure statistics, this isn’t necessarily a crazy result.
Nope.
Children tried as adults were sentenced to a little more than three years in prison on average for third-degree felonies — around 50% longer than the average sentence given to adults for the same class of offense. The vast majority of all felony charges are third-degree offenses, which are the lowest class of felony crimes and include burglary, some types of assault, drug possession and certain DUI offenses.
Children and adults had similar average sentences for more serious offenses that fall under first and second-degree felonies.
Doesn’t that illustrate my point though?
Seriousness of charges isn’t necessarily the same as seriousness of crime. I read more about Knight’s case and it sounds like them departing from sentencing guidelines for armed robbery happened for the same reason as them wanting to charge him as an adult - I.e. that his actions were worse than you would think just from reading the name of the charge.
For serious offenses, they get treated the same. The only difference is for third-degree felonies, which it sounds like would be the main circumstance where that correlation would come into play. Why wouldn’t there be a difference in sentencing, when you’re specifically selecting for the more serious circumstances on the juvenile side and not on the adult side of the data you’re comparing?
"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.
Color of skin?
The article is missing critical info about frequency and severity.
While the premise (and headline) seems outrageous,
- Juveniles tried as adults should be rare
- Should only apply to the worst cases
If my expectations are met, is it really so bad that a small number of the worst offenders got excessive sentences? Is it really fair to compare sentences of a small number of the worst offenders to sentences of the general population?
However I didn’t read anywhere in the article whether these were truly a small number or that they were the worst offenders.
I think this section answers a lot of your questions
Only one in 10 of the more than 20,000 children tried as adults in Florida were given juvenile sanctions and less than 5% received a “youthful offender” designation, the Herald found in an analysis of the last 15 years of state court system sentencing data from 2008 to 2022.
Children tried as adults were sentenced to a little more than three years in prison on average for third-degree felonies — around 50% longer than the average sentence given to adults for the same class of offense. The vast majority of all felony charges are third-degree offenses, which are the lowest class of felony crimes and include burglary, some types of assault, drug possession and certain DUI offenses.
Children and adults had similar average sentences for more serious offenses that fall under first and second-degree felonies. Overall, a child tried as an adult was sentenced to a little more than five years for a felony charge while an adult received around three-and-a-half years. These trends held even after the Herald adjusted for the most extreme sentences that could skew the figures.
is it really so bad that a small number of the worst offenders
They're not necessarily "the worst," prosecutors can try any juvenile as an adult that they want to in Florida
Is it really fair to compare sentences of a small number of the worst offenders to sentences of the general population?
They're comparing juveniles and adults charged with the same class of crimes, and actually the disparity is more pronounced with the lowest level third degree felonies than with the first and second degree ones.
Shut up nerd I want to be mad about the prison system again /s
(It is actually a big problem but you're right to question the premise in this case)
Miami Herald - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
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Information for Internet Archive:
MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: Mostly Factual - United States of America
Wikipedia about this sourceWell duh. Imagine for a second what a kid has to do to end up in that situation. These are usually seriously fucked up humans.
You don’t understand. Lemmy, like all social media, runs on outrage. How are we supposed to hate the prison industry if what’s going on has a perfectly reasonable explanation? I need to feel hate with my morning coffee, because I need to feel something.