The Frontline video of “The Stick Up Kid,” is a good example of the effects that can occur in terms of both manifest and latent functions. The video is about the story of Alonza Thomas Jr, who was one of the first people in California to be tried as an adult for his crimes, despite him being a minor. Proposition 21, which made it easier to charge minors as adults for specific violent crimes, had been passed in California months before Alonza committed his crime. Alonza attempted to rob a convenience mart when he was only 15 years of age, and even though his attempt was foiled by the shop owner, who kept him at the store at gunpoint until the police arrived to the scene. After his trial, Alonza was sentenced to 13 years in state prison, an …show more content…
One of the quotes from Alonza that really made be think was when he said “I’m learning how to do things at 28, that I should have learned at 15.” The man who defended Alonza said that he believed that he believed that Alonza had potentially suffered permanent harm from being locked up on the California prison system. The younger the individual is that committed the crime, the greater chance that there is for the person to be successfully rehabilitated. Alonza spoke in great detail about the conditions that were present inside of the prisons, and how they had affected him after he was released from prison, once referencing that he was once concerned that his mother was using a knife without permission (Stickup Kid 2014). Being in that prison from such a young age had a dramatic effect on the development of that young man. Additionally one more latent function that I saw from the video was the amount of prescription drugs that the state had placed Alonza on in order to manage all of his new psychiatric issues. The number one problem that I see with that, is that the prison system seemed to have given Alonza all of those issues, since he wasn 't suffering from them before he went to prison. Additionally this created a problem of who is paying for him to be on those prescription drugs because that is not a cheap undertaking, and Alonza would have a hard time paying for all of those drugs himself with his lack of job skills. Ultimately you would have to believe that the State of California is paying for them which is a burden on the day to day tax
Michael Chabon author and Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction, writes a short keynote speech called “Kid’s Stuff.”
Within the last five years, violent offenses by children have increased 68 percent, crimes such as: murder, rape, assault, and robbery. Honestly, with these figures, it is not surprising at all that the Juveniles Courts focus less on the children in danger, and focus more on dangerous children. This in fact is most likely the underlying reasoning behind juveniles being tried as adults by imposing harsher and stiffer sentences. However, these policies fail to recognize the developmental differences between young people and
After watching the full documentary on the crime that Alonza Thomas committed, I believe that he received a much harsher sentence than he deserved. I agree that what he did was wrong and he should have been convicted of a crime, but the extent to which he was punished was far more severe than the crime itself.Personally, I feel that 1) he should have not been tried as an adult and 2) he should have not been sent to a maximum security prison with adult criminals. For example, if a rapists commits a crime, they receive somewhere between three to four months jail time in some cases. In Alonza’s case, he never had past criminal record and never committed a crime but I feel due to him being an underprivileged minority, he was given maximum sentencing.
As mentioned in in the article Baca “could not keep up academically nor mesh with the ‘normal’ kids who had families”. Without a family or friends to console him through his life he had to do what would keep him alive, sadly drugs and violence mixed into Baca’s life line to survive. He became a “successful” drug dealer, which is humorous because something that could have the chance to put you in jail or worse be killed should certainly be labeled as successful. At age 21 that’s exactly what happened, Baca was sentenced to 5-10 years in prison. Although his life seemed to be an endless layers of violence and crime, a new coating of his skin would began to emerge, ripping off his old hazardous
Marquese was in and out of jail year after year, in which he had racked up seven felonies for grand theft auto by the time of the documentary. He has been to a juvenile camp, detention hall, and the California Youth Authority. Time after time, he has had chances to turn his life around and follow a different path. He had yet to be sent to prison for all of his convictions, which showed some form of leniency from judges. His mental health could have caused a lot of strain to be put on his present self. I believe this is true after learning about his childhood. His mother has also had many problems with the law and she too finds herself in and out of jail.
The flaws of the prison system not only affect inmates and their families, but affect every Californian. It is ironic that prison are created to protect society, but it also an institution that hurts society. More of state budget is moved into maintaining the flawed prison system at the expense of education and social services. Ironically, money for education and social services aid in preventing criminal population.
Mass incarceration has caused the prison’s populations to increase dramatically. The reason for this increase in population is because of the sentencing policies that put a lot of men and women in prison for an unjust amount of time. The prison population has be caused by periods of high crime rates, by the medias assembly line approach to the production of news stories that bend the truth of the crimes, and by political figures preying on citizens fear. For example, this fear can be seen in “Richard Nixon’s famous campaign call for “law and order” spoke to those fears, hostilities, and racist underpinnings” (Mauer pg. 52). This causes law enforcement to focus on crimes that involve violent crimes/offenders. Such as, gang members, drive by shootings, drug dealers, and serial killers. Instead of our law agencies focusing their attention on the fundamental causes of crime. Such as, why these crimes are committed, the family, and preventive services. These agencies choose to fight crime by establishing a “War On Drugs” and with “Get Tough” sentencing policies. These policies include “three strikes laws, mandatory minimum sentences, and juvenile waives laws which allows kids to be trialed as adults.
Paul Thompson in the article, “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains”, claims that the youth thinks differently, especially when it comes to them facing criminal charges. Thompson supports his claims by first citing an example of a real case involving a minor. He then cites research from reliable sources as evidence to back up his claim. Lastly, the author investigates the law system’s way of handling the case mentioned previously in the article as a way to leave options open for the viewer. Thompson’s purpose is to convince the audience that though the research given shows that youth suffer brain tissue loss in their teen years, it gives them no excuse for violent behavior so that he can possibly give a well informed side of the argument. The
In Edward Humes book, No Matter How Loud I Shout, he discusses the different areas of the Juvenile Justice System, and how those areas affect delinquents who have made their way into the Los Angeles court houses. He recounts his experiences with these children in Los Angeles while they are in Juvenile Court, as well as telling their stories of before they entered the system (Humes, 2015). Furthermore, Humes recounts how these individuals moved through the court system based off their time done, and other factors. Humes relates the stories the kids have written in his class within the jailing facility, as a demonstration of the different back grounds that the children came from. They all grew up differently, and that has affected how they commit
Youthful offenders have a reason for the crimes they have committed. Past life trauma is one of the most common causes for youthful offenders to stand in a criminal court. But the big guys seem to not understand the development of children/teenagers are going through. No matter how critical the crime has appeared, everyone should stop for one second and stand in their shoes. Up until today, youthful offenders, no matter how young they are, they are being treated as adults. Youthful offenders being tried in criminal courts as adults, criminal courts are putting them at risk from the dangers in adult prison facilities. As a result, the past trauma that youthful offenders experienced and were the factors that caused them to commit their crimes;
While many argue that juveniles who commit serious crimes, such as murder, should be treated as adults, the fact is, juveniles under the age of eighteen, are not adults, and should not be treated as such. Juveniles are not mature enough or developed psychologically, and, therefore, do not consider the consequences of their actions. In the article, “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” by Thompson, the writer argues that juveniles are not adults. Their brains develop at different stages and they learn skills that they need to learn at a certain time.
we are able to understand the myriad of ways delinquent juveniles are affected by certain
The article titled “Growing up in Prison” by Elizabeth Calvin was published in the Los Angeles Times on January 13 2014. It discusses the case of Eden Gonzalez who was sentenced to life imprisonment at the age of sixteen. Gonzales sentence was punitive owing to the lack of parole for the entire sentence. This is because the inmate tried to steal a car in the company of two adults, but a murder occurred in the course of the crime. It is notable that Gonzales was sentenced to a life imprisonment despite the fact that he did not kill. In an online article by Ashley Hayes, the author discusses the case of Ethan Couch who was driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.24. The judge ruled for Couch to serve ten-year probation despite the fact that Couch killed. This paper argues that even though the law promotes a fair society, a person’s economic status can influence their jail sentence. Is also opposes life imprisonment without parole for children.
There prison population is overpopulated with people just like these. The people in these cases needed help, whether it be employment opportunities, rehabilitation, an alternative to prison, or even a lesser sentence. We have learned that throwing everyone who has a problem in prison and letting them rot behind bars is not the answer. We have only created another problem that our prisons have become overcrowded, and when these offenders finally come out of prison they have a high risk to go right back in. We have to put funding back into communities, society needs to stop spending so much money on sending people to prison, and spend more money trying to keep them out. Society has to put funding back into creating employment opportunities, affordable rehab, and focus on low income communities who need the most help. We need to leave the violent offenders that we are afraid of for prison, and for the people that really need help we can 't put them in jail. Mandatory Minimum sentences are not the answer, this bill needs to be reformed. We have learned that our prisons are filled with people just like Angelos, Echols, and Lockwood who didn’t deserve such harsh sentences and would have benefitted from a judge 's discretion. These people lives would not have been ruined by these sentences if they had better
For instance, juveniles do not deserve life sentences because their brain isn’t fully developed yet and lack awareness of their actions. In the article “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” by Paul Thompson, he explains the development of the brain and how in some situations the brain isn’t ready and it can affect the person. This effect in divergent ways; psychologically and emotionally. Thompson's article introduces the case of Nathaniel Brazill, at age 14, charged with second degree murder, trial as an adult and sentenced to life in prison without parole. After some serious research, it has shown that as many other juveniles who have committed a crime they are “far from adulthood”.