Hennepin County prosecutor declines to charge teen murderers as adults, will be free at 21

[Fuzzy Bear]

If they're not adults they should not be charged as adults, period. The very fact that doing so is legally possible tells you all you need to know about the Orwellian nightmare that is the US justice system. If you think sentencing caps for juveniles are too low, you can increase them (not that you should, but you can), but that doesn't mean that a 17-year-old magically grows one year older the moment they commit some heinous crime.

If there is no means by which this person can be tried as an adult, how are law-abiding people to be safe from this individual?

He's saying there should be something in between, and there should be. I think if anyone is to be tried by the full weight of justice system, they should have a say in it. It is very difficult to say where the line should be, both in terms of the age of the defendant and the maximum penalty. To answer your question more directly, perhaps we should put more emphasis on corrections (i.e. rehabilitation). We can certainly devise a system that better supports rehabilitation for most people.  Not everyone can be rehabilitated or be part of regular society, but we should certainly try.

If we were talking about a plain old Home Invasion-Robbery I might agree to this.  In Florida, such an defendant could possibly be sentenced as a Youthful Offender, meaning that they'd get a cap of 6 years with some combination of prison and some kind of community supervision.  This, however, is a murder for hire.  The actions of these teenagers are quite depraved, and reflect a deep disregard for human life, as well as good reason to believe that they would commit a crime involving the taking of a human life in the future if they believed in the moment that it was in their interest to do so.  Federal Court decisions have dialed back the ability of states to sentence juveniles to life without parole, but this is not just absurd, it leaves no reason to believe that the victim's family would be safe from retribution from these individuals once they are released.  

To say that the Criminal Justice system does not serve victims is just wrong.  It does serve victims, and it should.  The identified victims of a crime ought to have the satisfaction that the person that committed a heinous crime is receiving a punishment that reflects the heinousness of the crime.  The victims ought to know that the system will provide enforcement of the collection of restitution to victims for the costs incurred of the crime (money stolen, out of pocket medical bills, funeral expenses).  Why should it not be?  

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

I agree with the intermediate age of responsibility. A single day distancing someone from a couple years vs a full life is very dumb. Maybe 50% of a maximum sentence for those in this age group.

I think the maximum sentence should be life with parole after 20 years, so half of that.

[Tartarus Sauce]

It’s really getting frustrating how frequently progressive-oriented officials end up making a mockery of reform movements through boneheaded decisions such as this. The curse of ideologues of every stripe is their inability to grasp the finite nature of the extended public trust that puts them in power. This country is not one with a soft spot for criminals, which is what has allowed well documented inequities and abuses within the law enforcement and criminal justice system to perpetuate for far longer than they’ve had any right to. It’s taken decades of advocacy to get the public to take the progressive program for criminal justice reform seriously and it will take far less time than that for the electorate to revert to a tough on crime posture if these are the kinds of results they can expect.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Bump

https://twitter.com/louraguse/status/1644103430879821826

This is kind of big for two reasons:

1-Ellison actually endorsed Moriarty. They aren't political rivals.
2-This is extremely rare in Minnesota. The law only allows the AG to take over a case if the Governor requests it so that has obviously happened, and this has only occurred once prior in Minnesota under the law which is over 50 years old.

[Badger]

Bump

https://twitter.com/louraguse/status/1644103430879821826

This is kind of big for two reasons:

1-Ellison actually endorsed Moriarty. They aren't political rivals.
2-This is extremely rare in Minnesota. The law only allows the AG to take over a case if the Governor requests it so that has obviously happened, and this has only occurred once prior in Minnesota under the law which is over 50 years old.

I suspect that any reputation Keith Ellison has for supposedly being soft on crime is a result of Republican attack ads rather than reality. Nevertheless, he is to my understanding at least considered part of the general overall Justice Reform movement, even if he's clearly not one of the radical Progressive DAs being elected around the country. The fact he's taking over this prosecution is, as brtd noted, a huge indicator just how terrible the decision was to try these dudes as juveniles.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

....and Moriarty has decided to double down and held a press conference today openly attacking Walz and Ellison.

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/04/07/mckeever-case-moriarty-hennepin-prosecutor-rips-walz-ellison-for-taking-over

Definitely not good political instincts to put it mildly. This is a textbook example where you just take the L. Also shows why I didn't vote for her in the first round.

[GM Team Member and Deputy PPT WB]

It’s hard to find any good solution here other than maybe an intermediate class as others have said.