Jobs, not jail: A judge was sick of sending kids to prison, so he found a better way

3 years ago by MicroWave to c/news

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.

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interceder270 -15 points 3 years ago

They might want to look at Sweden before they start going easy on murderers because of their age.

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AI_toothbrush 5 points 3 years ago

Yeah its the evil kids not the poor gangs that want to kill people. Also i think the kids are the ones that import guns illegally and not the multinational gangs in europe.

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interceder270 -5 points 3 years ago

When did we start believing kids don't know it's wrong to murder?

Don't any of you remember being a child? How many of your peers legitimately thought killing people was an acceptable thing to do?

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echodot 6 points 3 years ago

Nice straw man argument, whether or not they know it's bad is irrelevant. The question is, is it worth destroying their entire future just because they were in a bad situation and often were manipulated by adults?

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interceder270 -6 points 3 years ago

whether or not they know it’s bad is irrelevant.

Says who? Lol.

is it worth destroying their entire future just because they were in a bad situation and often were manipulated by adults?

Sorry, I'm going to ignore your derailing question because you failed to answer my relevant ones.

Think about all the futures that get destroyed when they murder someone.

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jomoo99 5 points 3 years ago

Locking the kid up won't bring the victim back nor will it prevent future violence

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echodot 3 points 3 years ago

Particularly because the violence is ultimately perpetrated by the adults who are using the kids.

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