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Illinois Weighs Second Chances

By standdown

That's the title of an article in today's Washington Post by Kari Lydersen.  It's subtitled, "Some See Juvenile Sentencing Laws As Overly Harsh."In 1978 at age 17, Jimmy Childres murdered his mother, stepfather and brother in what police describe as a "frenzied killing by bullet wounds and multiple stab wounds." At his trial, the central Illinois resident alleged that his mother had beaten him, locked him in a closet for days and forced him to eat dog food out of a dog bowl when he misbehaved. But once Childres was found guilty of murder, none of the evidence of his abuse that he presented at trial could be considered in his sentencing. Under Illinois law, he had to be given life without parole. He is now one of 102 Illinois men and one woman serving life sentences for murders they committed as minors...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on March 03, 2008 (boomark / email).