An Example of Modern, American Barbarism
We Americans think we are civilized, not barbaric. Of course, we believe there are barbaric people among us, but we think of our society itself as anything but barbaric. And yet there are a few practices that are widely accepted almost without question that stand out as barbaric. Barbaric is the only word for them.
One has been in the news lately. County officials in two locales have charged fourteen year old boys as adults in criminal court. That means they are eligible to be sentenced to life in prison.
Fortunately, our society has transcended some past barbarisms including executing children. The Supreme Court decided that persons under eighteen cannot be executed. However, they can still be sentenced like adults to life in prison and that still sometimes happens. I have seen documentaries about elderly prison inmates who were sentenced to life in prison as children.
The defense of this barbaric practice is “If they can do the crime, they can do the time.” In other words, the severity of the crime justifies treating them like adults even though they are clearly children in every other sense.
One fourteen year old boy recently took a gun to school and shot and killed a classmate. I saw him on television, terror on his countenance.
In the distant past children as young as seven were executed by hanging. We now think that was barbaric. Most people would probably think sentencing a child to life in prison is barbaric, but somehow many think a fourteen year old child suddenly deserves to be treated like an adult if he commits murder, but only if and when he commits murder.
The vast majority of psychologists know and say that adolescents (and younger children) are impulsive and not fully responsible for everything they do. Never responsible in the same sense as adults. And they are capable of reform.
This is why we have “family courts” and “juvenile justice systems.” But when a child commits murder, we (in many locales in America) consider them suddenly adults. That is bizarre and a product of emotion, not rational justice.
In fact, our justice systems are riddled with barbarisms such as playing on the emotions of juries by showing them graphic photos of murdered people and such as allowing victims’ families to confront convicted murderers in court with a view to swaying the judge or jury toward the harshest punishments possible.
The worst barbarism in our judicial systems is, of course, capital punishment which is unjustly committed mostly against the poor. Another one is mass incarceration due to the “War on Drugs” which often results in addicts who are not sellers of drugs being locked up for years.
Back to my main point. Treating children as adults in the criminal justice system is simply wrong, ethically, morally. It is uncivilized, barbaric. Children are not treated the same as adult otherwise; why here, in this context? It can only be due to a thirst for vengeance on the parts of many citizens. They do not see the child as an immature person whose life has probably been very difficult and who is capable of reform. They only see an object of wrath. That is barbaric.
*Note: When I speak openly, here or in opinion pages of newspapers, many people challenge my credentials. I held an endowed chair in Christian ethics at Baylor University for many years (The Foy Valentine Chair in Christian Ethics). I have studied and taught Christian ethics for many years.*
*Note: If you choose to comment, make sure your comment is relatively brief (no more than 100 words), on topic, addressed to me, civil and respectful (not hostile or argumentative), and devoid of pictures or links.*
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