I just watched the 2007 Frontline report, When Kids Get Life. Often I have trouble with what I perceive to be Frontline's over the top sensationalism, but I thought this documentary was very good.It examines the issue of life without parole in the case of crimes committed by juveniles, and makes a strong case against this inhumane practice. A practice that no other country embraces. In fact, while the US has over 2,000 juveniles serving life sentences, there are only12 other juveniles in the world serving such sentences.
The stories of the crimes that were committed were very moving, and they chose young men who were very sympathetic. I guess it would be interesting if they had shown an unrepentant crazy asshole or something to round it out. As it is, the families of victims came across as vengeful and narrow minded, in contrast to the families of offenders who came across as sane and pained. So, yeah, there's a bit of a bias there. But I guess since the bias represents my view of the issue I'm less bothered by it and appreciate the rhetoric.
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