Rancho Cielo aims to give students the skills to get good jobs and a sense that their lives have purpose and meaning.

Superior Court Judge John Phillips remembers the day 23 years ago like it was yesterday.

A kid stood in his courtroom who’d committed a murder, a young man who was still angry and unrepentant. Then the boy’s grandmother entered.

“He broke down and started crying,” said Phillips. “He was just a kid. And I’m thinking, ‘I’m sending kids to prison for life.’”

Phillips, now 81, had seen it all in 13 years as a district attorney and then 21 as a judge. Shootings, thefts, assault. He handed out difficult sentences, but he was troubled by the stories of many children who went through his courtroom.

“It’s very easy to pull a trigger if you don’t have any future, you don’t have any goals and you don’t have anything to look forward to,” he said.

  • qooqie@lemmy.world
    563·
    1 year ago

    It’s sad this is a radical take in some judicial systems around the world. Kids can’t see the future, foresight is incredibly hard. I say this as having been a kid myself, kids like to think they understand the consequences of their actions but I don’t think I fully did until I was mid to late 20s

    • interceder270@lemmy.world
      931·
      1 year ago

      When I was a kid, I knew murder was wrong, hurt others, and would negatively impact my future in ways I could not foresee. I knew me being a child was not an excuse to commit murder, just like it wasn’t an excuse to start fights, steal, curse, harass, eat nothing but junk-food, run around naked etc.

      I’d wager the vast majority of children around me thought the same. Were you an exception? Lol.

      The idea that kids can’t know what they’re doing is wrong or that they will face consequences is retarded.

      It’s sad this is a radical take in some judicial systems around the world.

      It’s not radical in Sweden, and they have children committing murder left and right because they know they’ll get off easy. Some of the gangsters in Sweden tried to commit murder in neighboring Norway and ended up getting 20 years.

      What’s really sad is how bleeding-hearts routinely get taken advantage of and it’s up to adults to fix the issues you cause.

      • SCB@lemmy.world
        61·
        1 year ago

        What’s really sad is how bleeding-hearts routinely get taken advantage of and it’s up to adults to fix the issues you cause.

        You’re commenting on an article about a bleeding-heart system working beyond anyone’s wildest expectations.