Juvenile Justice

Juvenile justice - the area of criminal law applicable to

persons not old enough to be held responsible for criminal
acts. In most states, the age for criminal culpability is set at
18 years. Juvenile law is mainly governed by state law and
most states have enacted a juvenile code
My Definition - to me juvenile justice is when we charge a
juvenile according to their age and maturity, obviously a
child 13 or younger should never be charged as an adult,
and if the adult age in the U.S.A. is 18, than a person has to
be 18 to be charged as an adult

Jacob Ind
Jacob was charged with the murder of with the first
degree murder of both mother and stepfather at
15 years old, after suffering years of physical and
emotional abuse by them.

Details of the crime

15 years old
Planned to commit suicide after
Suffered abuse from victim's: physical, emotional, and sexual
Detached from the reality of his actions
Sitting in prison while being charged of murder, he was worried about marijuana
in his room
Lawyers stated he acted in self defence as what he thought would be the only
alternative to end the mistreatment and sexual abuse he and his brother both
indured
Brother testified in court stating that the abuse was true
Defence didnt allow him to testify on his own behalf, for fear he would do ,more
harm than good, due to the fact that he was an abuse victim, he wouldnt have
shown remorse

He tried to hire someone to do the dead for him, he just wanted to be free
He wanted it to be quick and painless
Defence could have done more, to explain his abuse and make his action seem
more like the self defence it was

Sentencing
Convicted of two accounts of first degree murder on June 1, 1994, he was sentenced to
life without parole.

My Personal Opinion
Jacob Ind had been not only suffering sexual, physical and emotional abuse at the
hands of his stepfather, with his mother knowing and not doing anything about it, but
he had to sit their and witness these things happening to his little brother as well. At
the age of 15 he didnt really know what else he could do to stop the abuse happening
to him and his brother, he was desperate to just make the suffering stop, and shot and
killed his abusers. He wasnt thinking on the personality of his actions, because he was
focused on ending his abuse and his brothers. At this age you can tell right from
wrong, so I cant say he deserves no punishment, but because of the reason to his
actions, as well as his age and mental state because of the abuse, I do not believe he
deserved life in prison without parole. He is 15 and will never see the world outside of
prison because he killed the people hurting him.

Where is he now?
Jacob Ind is still currently in prison in the Colorado State Planetarity, their are rumors
saying he and a few other Juveniles could possibly get new sentencing but their isnt
anything set in stone.

Works Cited(Linked)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/whenkidsgetlife/five/ind.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTzEThnv-vk
http://www.d.umn.edu/~sjanssen/kids%20get%20life.htm
http://www.westword.com/news/jacob-ind-40-others-in-colorado-could-get-newsentences-due-to-supreme-court-juvie-ruling-5837317