Here's a new one I haven't seen before:

[conuly]

Scrap goat for "scapegoat".

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Dr Zizmor, star of New York subways adverts, retires

One man's attempt to watch the entire 1990s dinosaur sitcom series in one day (That show had the most depressing ending of any sitcom ever.)

The Best Facts I Learned from Books in 2015

Never rains but it pours for guano-hit Rome

139 Old Norse Words That Invaded The English Language

When Americans Embraced the Bob, This New England Town Had To Make Something Besides a Comb. Enter the Pink Flamingo.

Tiny Chameleons Show Off Powerful Tongues

US Forest Service reviews Nestle California operation

‘What can we do better?’ Trying to make the nation’s food system safer in 2016.

How I Conquered My Fear of God and Got an HIV Test

As U.S. Abortion Case Looms, Both Sides Seek Personal Touch

California grants rare look inside largest death row

L.A. County jail inmates were handcuffed to a wall for hours on 'potty watch'

At 16, Taurus Buchanan threw one deadly punch—and was sent away for life. Will the Supreme Court give him, and hundreds like him, a chance at freedom?

30th Arrest: Transit Impostor Says He Needs Help Not Prison

The cognitive dissonance of conservative NSA hawks, in 1 telling episode

The War on Women Is About to Get a Whole Lot Worse

Pentagon: Hundreds of military kids sexually abused annually

ISIS in the World’s Largest Muslim Country

Mapped: The Taliban Surged in 2015, but ISIS Is Moving In on Its Turf

Comments

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Um. At 16, Taurus Buchanen threw "one deadly punch" and killed the 12-year-old that his cousins were already beating:

"Colin (age 15) threw the first punch, and didn’t let up. Mario (age 12) joined in, neighbors looking on. Then Taurus (age 16) waded in and landed one blow. Jacques (age 12) crumpled, and never got up."

... that is not 'a child' accidentally killing another child with one unlucky punch. That is two large, strong teenagers (plus their kid cousin) beating a 12-year-old to death. Mario deserves clemency, because he was only 12, and he neither started the fight nor finished it. Colin and Taurus deserve to be tried as adults, and to serve their time as adults.

Do you agree with the slap-on-the-wrist sentence Lewis Gill got for murdering Andrew Young with one punch (http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/461772/Outrage-after-Lewis-Gill-receives-joke-sentence-for-punch-that-killed-Andrew-Young)? Aww c'mon, he's only 20; he didn't mean to kill him; and - significantly unlike Taurus Buchanen - he only threw one punch at an adult his own size; he didn't pile in to deliver the coup de grace to a kid who was already being beaten by two bigger guys. And after all, the person he killed said something he didn't like, and was nobody important anyway, right?

I say murder committed in the course of bullying ought to carry extra penalties - not be hand-waved away because the bully didn't 'intentionally' set out to (physically) kill his victim. "Rot in jail, Taurus Buchanen!" - or do black lives only matter when white cops do the killing? I bet Jacques' mother would not say so.

[sayga.livejournal.com]

On the abortion one... The anti-abortion group is now leaning heavily on "I regret my choice" testimonies?! I regret some of my choices too but that doesn't mean there should have been a law to prevent me from MAKING that choice. Other people might make the same choice I regret and be very happy about it. I just can't see how that will actually go over in court. Except it probably will because law makers tend to be religious and/or think with their wallets. You'd think, though, that the conservative, anti-big-government folks would be the ones saying to leave that up to choice, instead of legislating away a freedom.

[conuly]

I don't think I agree with putting minors in prison for life. This has nothing to do with the severity of the crime, or whether or not it was intentional, and everything to do with the fact that they're still young.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

I agree that there ought to be a clearer distinction between minors and adults, but I think that in cases of violent crime, 16 ought to be legally considered 'adult', and tried as such. Taurus Buchanen was tried as an adult, and he got an adult's sentence.

I don't agree with mandatory sentences of life without parole. I think it ought to be an option, but only used in cases of 'career evil' such as serial rapists and murderers, human traffickers, etc. Maybe Taurus Buchanen at 16 hadn't achieved that level of evil yet, but from the court testimony I read, it sure sounds like he was working toward it as fast as possible.

I would not be a good choice for a jury to hear a case of second-degree murder committed in the course of bullying, because due to my lived experience, my fixed opinion is that those who hurt vulnerable people for fun deserve to be stomped. Wah wah, the killer is so sorry now that he and his two cousins ambushed a little boy out riding his bike, and beat him to death in cold blood as he screamed "leave me alone, leave me alone"...? Cry me a frickin' river.

[conuly]

The more I learn about our prison system, and compare it to other places, the less I like the way we run things. I really don't like life without possibility of parole, especially not for minors. I don't think our justice system is equipped to hand that sentence out equitably, and even if it was... I think it's an abdication of what prisons should be for, which is rehabilitation. I'm okay with keeping people locked up if they won't rehabilitate, or can't, but I'm not okay with saying at the start "not you!", especially not when our prisons veer towards inhumane.

[conuly]

Oh, they've been leaning on it for years, at least since Roe of Roe v Wade came forward and said she regretted it. Well, I'm sorry to hear that, but... well, I don't really care?

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

I certainly agree that the whole prison system is a mess, and needs to be overhauled from the ground up. However, I don't agree that prisons should be 'for' rehabilitation. Prisons should be for keeping dangerous people where they can't harm others; it's not for their benefit that they're sent there. If some of those people choose to rehabilitate themselves, that's all to the good, and they deserve some help and encouragement in doing it, but prison is not church, school or therapy, and should not be expected to act as such.

I do agree that it's cruel and unusual punishment to sentence a teenager to spend the rest of his life in prison with no hope of ever getting out. However, for those who want to concern themselves with this issue, there are 3,278 people serving life sentences without parole for non-violent offenses (https://www.aclu.org/report/living-death-life-without-parole-nonviolent-offenses), and I'd say their cases merit more attention than that of Taurus Buchanen.

[conuly]

Prisons should be for keeping dangerous people where they can't harm others; it's not for their benefit that they're sent there.

I disagree. I think it's to society's benefit if we get those people functioning and back in the world.

However, for those who want to concern themselves with this issue, there are 3,278 people serving life sentences without parole for non-violent offenses, and I'd say their cases merit more attention than that of Taurus Buchanen.

I think I can manage to spare attention for both issues, and also the issue of my cat licking my face with stinky breath.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

"I disagree. I think it's to society's benefit if we get those people functioning and back in the world."

I didn't say it's not to society's benefit if people rehabilitate themselves, and leave prison to lead law-abiding lives. Obviously, when people do that, it's to their own benefit as well. But, equally obviously, people are not sent to prison "for their own good", because if they agreed it was for their good, the doors wouldn't need locks.

The idea that 'these people' are not functioning begs the question of what 'functionality' looks like in the world to which they're to be sent back. Sounds like Taurus Buchanen was functioning just fine in his world, till he was unlucky enough to commit murder when he only intended assault and battery.

Did you ever read A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, or see the movie? (The book is better, of course.) Alex, the protagonist, is happily and successfully well-adjusted to his ultraviolent world, till he's unlucky enough to commit murder in the course of assault. The attempt to get him 'functioning' and back in the world doesn't go so well, because the world is the same one he left, only now he's prey rather than predator.

There's only so much damn a person can give, and I haven't got any to spare for bullies who beat children to death. Perhaps Taurus Buchanen's life sentence will serve as a cautionary tale to other teens: sucker-punch someone, and you might grow old behind bars, because "I didn't mean to kill him" is not a valid excuse.