Lee Boyd Malvo DC Sniper
In this Oct. 20, 2003 file photo, Lee Boyd Malvo listens to court proceedings during the trial of fellow sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad in Virginia Beach, Va. (AP Photo/Martin Smith-Rodden, Pool, File)
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By Jessica Gresko, Associated Press

Lee Boyd Malvo, who terrorized the Washington region in 2002 as one-half of a sniper team, is at the center of a case the Supreme Court will hear this fall. But the justices’ eventual ruling probably will mean less for him than for a dozen other inmates who, like the now-34-year-old Malvo, were sentenced to life without parole for murders they committed as teens.

At issue for the Supreme Court is whether Malvo should be resentenced in Virginia in light of Supreme Court rulings restricting life-without-parole sentences for crimes committed by juveniles. But the case could also be an opportunity for the Supreme Court, which has recently become more conservative , to put the brakes on what has been a gradual move toward more leniency for juvenile offenders .

Regardless of the case’s outcome, Malvo isn’t leaving prison anytime soon. He’s serving four life-without-parole sentences in Virginia. He was sentenced to another six life life-without-parole terms for shootings in Maryland. But an appeals court ruled last year that Malvo should be resentenced in Virginia, the decision the Supreme Court will review.

The appeals court explained that after Malvo was sentenced, the Supreme Court issued a series of decisions affecting juvenile killers, decisions that required Malvo to be resentenced. But even if the justices were to agree that Malvo should receive new sentences in Virginia and even if he were given something short of life without parole, then he still would have to successfully get his Maryland sentences reduced before having a shot at freedom.

“The reality is that other people have more at stake in this case than he does,” said Jody Kent Lavy, the executive director of the Washington-based Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, which has filed a Supreme Court brief supporting Malvo.

Lavy says a dozen other Virginia inmates will be affected by Malvo’s case. They include Donte Jones, who was 17 when he fatally shot a convenience store employee during a robbery; Holly Landry, who was 16 when she participated in a robbery in which a man died after being beaten with a hammer, and Jason Clem, who was 16 when he fatally stabbed his boss at the restaurant where he worked as a dishwasher.

Youth advocates have generally been pleased with the direction of the Supreme Court on juvenile sentencing in recent years. The court has recognized that minors should be treated differently from adults, in part because of their lack of maturity and greater ability to change.

In 2005, the court eliminated the death penalty for offenders who were under 18 when they committed crimes. Then, in 2012, the justices said teenage killers couldn’t automatically get life sentences with no chance of parole, explaining that punishment should be rare for juveniles. Four years later, the court made the decision retroactive , giving additional prisoners the hope for freedom.

“I have no idea what they’re going to do in Malvo, but I would hope that they wouldn’t do anything that pulls back from that progression,” said Kathleen Wach, whose firm represents Derek Ray Jackson Jr. He was 17 when he killed a man during a convenience store robbery; he will be affected by the Malvo case’s outcome.

The justices’ 2012 and 2016 rulings provided opportunities for inmates such as Jackson and Malvo, who went back to court to challenge their sentences. Malvo argued he should be resentenced in Virginia because after a jury convicted him of murder but rejected the death penalty, he was automatically given a life-without-parole sentence. But Virginia has argued that Malvo’s sentence — and others like it — weren’t automatic, and that a judge could have suspended all or part of it, so Malvo shouldn’t be resentenced.

“This case is about Lee Malvo, a convicted mass murder who killed Virginians in cold blood and terrorized an entire region. He received a fair trial in which he had a chance to make his case, and he should not have the chance to get out of jail or receive a lighter sentence,” said Michael Kelly, a spokesman for the Office of Virginia’s Attorney General.

Two lower courts have sided with Malvo, ruling that a court should assess whether he’s one of the rare juvenile offenders deserving of a life-without-parole sentence. The Supreme Court will decide if that’s right.

Having Malvo as the face of the issue, however, has some advocates worried because his crimes make him unlikely to elicit sympathy from the justices.

Malvo was 17 when he and John Allen Muhammad went on their sniper spree, killing 10 people in the Washington area. They picked off victims going about their daily business: shopping, getting gas and mowing the lawn. Muhammad, who was 41 at the time of the shootings, was sentenced to death and executed in 2009.

Lawyer Joshua Toll, who represents a client affected by Malvo’s case, acknowledged that lawyers in his position wish a different defendant were before the justices. Toll wants his client, David Sanchez Jr., to be resentenced and said that after two decades in prison he’s a different person from the 17-year-old who fatally shot a motorcyclist while under the influence of alcohol and LSD. He shouldn’t spend the rest of his life in jail, Toll said.

“He deserves the chance to at least make the case,” he said.

The case is Mathena v. Malvo, 18-217 .

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114 COMMENTS

    • I’m torn here. I don’t like the idea of a Gov’t killing their own citizens…but jeez…carrying out a long string of sniper attacks? 10 life sentences without parole? What’s the point of keeping him alive?

      Hammer murder while committing a robbery? Multiply stabbing someone to death?

      They made adult decisions to be outside the norms of society. There is no reason to keep them alive. Hopefully they won’t be released.

      Public execution. Mandatory Prime Time, ALL networks. None of this draw the curtain so you don’t see the final moment of death. It’s unpleasant for a reason. If you ‘re going to use it as a deterrent, you need to show the horror of the consequences.

  1. Malvo is an illegal alien who will be deported if freed. He also has convictions and sentences in other states as well as his confession to other murders for which he has yet to be tried. He;s going to die in a U.S. prison then sent back to Jamaica in a box.

  2. These “youths” knew exactly what they were doing when they committed their crimes. They should serve a full sentence. Do you really think a victim cares if the suspect is 17 or 18? I remember arresting a frequent flyer once. Knew him well. After being cuffed he grinned at me and said, “Call my mom. I’ll be released to her.” I said, “Not this time asshole. You’ve had a birthday. You’re not going to juvie. You’re going to jail.” (I kept up with some of them.) The smile fell off his face. Treat them as severely as the crime they committed deserves.

    • Wrong, like most Fanatics on the Far Right you are as ignorant as they come when it comes to human behavior and psychology. It has now been medically proven that people below the age of 25 are extremely susceptible to the influence of people in authority over them. The Military Sadists have known this for centuries. They are aware that they can turn normal young boys into sadistic robotic killing machines who are taught to act and not to think. As a side bar the U.S. Military during the Vietnam War recommended college kids NOT be drafted into the Military because they had already been taught “how to think” and not “what to think” and to question authority, something even the doddering old Far Right Crowd never learn. Young people often because of their immaturity are not aware of the short and long term consequences of their actions.

      A somewhat less dramatic example are the kids of the 50’s and 60’s who often drag raced their muscle cars down busy streets endangering not only their own lives but those of innocent bystanders. It was only after they killed innocent people or saw their friends killed in accidents that they began to realize why there were laws against speeding down public streets.

      In the famous Truman Capote book and movie “In Cold Blood” about the robbery and murder of an entire farm family the psychologists even way back in that time came to the conclusion that the influence of the older perpetrator over the younger one led to the killings and each by themselves would never have carried out the crime alone.

      In conclusion it was brought out in court that Malvo would never have been involved in the killings if it had not been for the influence of the older John Allen in his 40’s. Again the scenario was repeated much later in time in the Boston Marathon Bombing by two immigrant brothers, the older brother convincing the younger one to participate in the bombing. Left to his own devices the younger boy would never have had anything to do with the bombings. He had never even thought about such a thing before he was influenced by his older and deranged brother.

      Uneducated people like yourself seek simplistic reasons and solutions to complex societal problems and given the savageness of the naked human ape, especially those that are not products of higher education, lead to no solutions at all in regards to complex societal problems. The death penalty has been a total failure now for over 5,000 years of recorded history yet this is totally lost on the Neanderthals of the Far Right who would gleefully today burn witches at the stake, eat popcorn casually at executions or sanction the use of gas chambers for anyone not of the correct religion, race or political conviction.

      In conclusion the German Nazi’s of WWII were not an aberration of society rather they were influenced by a Mad Man (Hitler) just as today’s Nazi’s are influenced by a modern day Hitler and Mad Man (Herr Drumpf). Today’s Far Right are no different than the Far Right of Hitlers Germany and their torch light parades proved this beyond all doubt in Charlottesville, N. Carolina with their beloved leader Herr Drumpf giving all of them a verbal stiff armed salute. Only the swastika arm bands were missing much to their sorrow.

      • jerry. I understand your lack of education. Kent State was more of an indoctrination center than education center and you didn’t even finish that course. But assuming the rest of us are as ignorant and gullible as you is a big mistake.

        • First of all you jack off moron I am not Jerry and I did not attend Kent State but I did finish College you asshole. So go fuck yourself you son of bitch you can suck my dick mother fucker.

        • You’re not jerry? From Canton? That’s not your facebook with the posters of Hanoi jane? So you claim. But your response is white hot and livid.

          And since you’re a well known liar around here I’ll need just a little more proof than your word.

        • It seems we found a button to press with Vlad.

          Post your college transcripts little boy. You’ve got plenty to say about everything, prove you’re not an uneducated mouthbreather living at the expense of others.

        • Don’t cry little Vladdy,
          I have your binky and your blankey,
          You just dry those eyes,
          And I will give you a ……
          Spanky!

        • But that’s precisely the reason why they want 16 year olds to vote. They would say 12 years old, but they know that would be too obvious. The education system is pushing hard these days to turn kids into democrat activists.

      • Vlad the Impotent, as usual you are wrong. I know. You can’t help it. You’re ignorance knows no bounds. Why don’t you go to a blog that actually cares what you say. Don’t you understand? We all just laugh at you. Isn’t that humiliating?

      • Bible says an eye for an eye. Back in the old days ya hung em high! These kids were tried and convicted fairly. They should not Rot in jail. They should be hung!
        They knew what they were doing when they pulled the trigger. Influenced or not the new it was wrong to kill an innocent human being!
        I believe you reap what you sow

      • That does not square with my experience. The Army wanted us to think for ourselves, be able to take leadership if leaders fell in battle and to follow the rules of warfare and the command intent. Education, both military and civilian was heavily encouraged.

        The young man, he was not a boy, knew right from wrong. The Nazis tried at Nuremberg did not get away with the defense of being influenced, nor should anyone else, regardless of race, creed, socio economic status or other factors. With that said, there is a possibility if the person was mentally deficient, that they could be considered unduly influenced. That deficiency would have a high bar to clear.

        We need to stop excusing criminals for their actions . We need to apply the law equally, swiftly and consistently.

      • To vlad tepes
        Racist Liberals and Leftist pigs like you are the reason why so many black families like malvo are in such trouble. Pigs like you created the Welfare Industrial Complex. You happily replaced the father and his guns with government $$$ and the guns of a big city police department.

    • Gadsen Flag, and they killed multiple people. One may be accidental/negligent but multiple killings in different places is NOT! You take a life, you give a life—–simple and easy to understand…

      • Hush, uh what? If you’re talking the death penalty I’m all for hanging and the firing squad. Exactly what is your point?

        • Gadsen Flag said, “These “youths” knew exactly what they were doing when they committed their crimes. They should serve a full sentence”
          I was attempting to agree with your point. They had to know what they were doing in view of the fact that they took multiple lives. One may kill one(1) accidentally but not multiple. I believe my opinion supports yours. The sentence(s) should stand.

    • 16 years old you know what the hell is right and wrong and that shit has consequences. If they are proven guilty, lock em up or execute them.

      • The Federal Aviation Administration considers 16 year olds to be mature enough to act as pilot-in-command of an aircraft if that person is certificated.

        • Exactly, I get it, kids fuck up and are subject to getting pressured into gangs and groups they don’t want to be in. I usually consider anyone 14 and under salvageable, 15 being grey area. Its a case by case basis and requires jury of peers. At some point people have to become adults and usually its around 16 where you are expected to be adult-ish, even if you are still stupid, you are mentally mature enough to be accountable.

          I don’t think people stop being completely “young and stupid’ until around 24 – 26 years old on average but thats debatable. I knew one questionable character who was nearing 30.

        • But you can’t get a Commercial Pilot’s License until age 18 and must be 23 years old for the Airline Transport Pilot’s License.

  3. While I am generally opposed to capital punishment for convinced murderers when they claim innocence, I make exceptions for those who admitted guilt or caught in the act. Then capital punishment is appropriate, and never more so for this POS, who should be placed in a wood chipper feet first. Since he is not a citizen he is not entitled to protection from cruel and unusual punishment. His was not a crime of passion, or self defense, but cold, calculated murder of people who were no threat to him or anyone else, and he enjoyed watching them die. No need to spend another taxpayers dime on him. Also make the video mandatory viewing for anyone convicted of any felony.

    • And if he had been white, rich, and the son of a corrupt well liked charismatic Politician and had a good lawyer who instructed him to show extreme remorse you would be saying he deserved mercy. Tribalism is not dead in the 21st Century it rears it ugly head in posts like yours.

      • What tribe you belong to, jerry? From your pictures it looks like northern european honkey to me. makes you such an expert on bigotry, don’t it.

        You’re like hillary and nancy. You believe them poor ignint brown folks can’t navigate the world without a strong white hand leading them, amirite?

        • Well your racist post really proved my point about people like you. Your the last person on earth that should be allowed to own a firearm. Your the poster boy for an assault rifle ban or a poster boy when the red flag law at the Federal or State level becomes law.

        • quote——————-Aw, jerry. There you are. Deflecting your failings onto others.————-quote

          The only person who has failed at life was you. You failed to ever become a human being. Your posts prove that beyond all doubt. Rather than have a debate on a subject you can only resort to personal attacks. That is the behavior of a teenager not a man of your advanced age.

        • Jerry. You start nearly all comments with a rant about others. You’re the one driving down the quality of discussion here. As for failures in life. You’re the one backing a dead belief. When Trump is re-elected and he continues to pack the courts you will have no where to go. Except maybe venezuela.

          You shouldn’t have dropped out at Kent state. You should have gotten a real, marketable skill.

      • @ Vlad. I would have the same response if it was a white billionaire, race doesn’t matter, heart does. Figures
        you would be first to cry “racist. Nothing to be learned from a conversation with you.

      • This is why most firearm owners are given a bad name. Don’t be ignorant. Racism is the vestige of the weak minded.

      • @george As a poster who takes the name of the father of America, you certainly don’t have his spirit. These forums should be a way to communicate , educate and be educated. You disrespect all of us, not just @Vlad, who is entitled to his opinion, even if he does it in an irritating way. He uses intimidation, not the best way to educate or acknowledged. So your response is to try and one-up him? Can we all behave civilized and have the benefit of each others experiences. If not, then the gun grabbers have won, they have proved gun owners violent, uneducated and prone to outburst that make us appear dangerous.

      • Jerry is mentally deranged man who follows a 16 year old female mentally disabled leader of a climate religious cult. He also pushes the “white supremacy” mania regarding antisemitism even though the *overwhelming* majority of attacks on Jews are committed by blacks.

        He has serious, possibly diagnosed, mental illness and should be barred from spreading his radical and violent agenda and conspiracies here, and possibly have his 2A rights stripped for his own safety and ours.

        Admins are now aware

      • Malvo’s skin color, lack of wealth or education had nothing to do with his crime(s). Malvo was here illegally and killed multiple people who may still be alive had the borders been more secure. When someone like Malvo kills a politician’s friend or family member they may sing another tune relative to border security and so may someone like Vlad. The racist is MALVO and not the victims, Malvo did not know them and knew nothing about them. He had the wherewithal to get into the U S A illegally which says a lot about his maturity at the time. He does not deserve leniency due to age or any other reason.

  4. Yeah, don’t hang the murdering scum but strip law-abiding citizens of their rights if not their very lives. America: A land of servile cattle led by morons.

  5. Just for once, think about the victims, they get NO second chance,,, just like the comment above up there,,, let them rot in jail or hell,,, no sympathy.

    • “Let them rot in jail?” Why should I have to pay to keep this symbol of evil housed and clothed, heated and cooled, while at the same time providing him with medical care that’s probably better than mine? No way. If a crime is severe enough to receive a “life in prison without the possibility of parole” sentence, then it is severe enough to receive the death penalty, and it relieves the citizenry from the responsibility of having to house and feed these useless wastes of flesh and bone. I say do away entirely with the “life in prison without parole” sentence and go directly to the death penalty. These criminals deserve due process, but not the sham our capital punishment system has become, with endless appeals and dying of old age on death row. It needs to be: One trial, one appeal, with the sentence to be carried out one day after their appeal is lost.

      • Well….there have been a sufficient number of convictions over-turned years later to make me hesitant about the death penalty.

        My other concern is about the job of executioner. This seems a profoundly somber responsibility that would have some painful impact upon the person assigned this task.

        As I have mentioned in other posts, I have served as a jail chaplain; I met those people whom you would NEVER want released into society. Some with hideous crimes to their name.

        I do not oppose the death penalty, but it is an end that requires great sobriety of thought and solemnity of mood when considering.

        • “…Well….there have been a sufficient number of convictions over-turned years later to make me hesitant about the death penalty…”

          Agree…. the Innocence Project has helped correct many false convictions of people. Those especially where science and DNA has proven now but we didn’t have the technology at the time of conviction. From the last 10 years forward I don’t think it will be an issue as it was in the 1960-80s.

  6. No amount of punishment will make what they did right, that being said it is cruel and usual to make us law abiding citizens pay to keep him alive. He should be put down like the vermin that he is. The other teen killers as well, so young and already showing what they will be like as adults.

  7. We should bring back the firing squad for the Malvo’s of the U.S. I dont care how old you are. You murder innocent Americans, get caught red handed , you get convicted, line up against a wall ,the end. No free prison meals , basketball , warm bed etc. Maybe these psychos will think twice before committing such heinous acts of violence if there are severe consequences.

    • quote———— You murder innocent Americans, get caught red handed , you get convicted, line up against a wall ,the end.————quote

      Again racism rears its ugly head.

      In England in the 1700’s they hanged an 8 year old starving boy for stealing a loaf of bread. I am sure even today you would approve of such punishment especially of he was black, Latino or Muslim or a Refugee but NOT a White Anglo Saxon Protestant, they would deserve mercy.

      • Vlad don’t be dishonest. No one is arguing we execute 8 year olds for stealing bread. The suspects at hand committed cold blooded homicide. If they pay for doing so that is fair to me.
        Let’s try this Vlad what is an appropriate punishment for a man who participated in multiple homicides in multiple states? Five years, 10 years perhaps 1 year? Do you care to explain this to the victims wife or mother?

        • Thanks for you respectful reply. All I am saying is that racism and the extenuating circumstances that led up to the crime should all be taken into consideration. I am not saying nothing should have been done at all. But executions and or life imprisonment without first evaluating all the facts that led up to the tragedy should not be ignored in the interest of pure racist revenge.

          Again look at the Patty Hearst Case she got off Scot free and she was 20 years old at the time, but she had money, she was white and had the political influence of her family. And yes there were extenuating circumstances to her kidnapping and all taken into consideration because of who she was. A poor Black Girl under the same circumstances would have been given at least a decade or more in jail.

        • In fairness she was taken at gun point, her life threatened locked in a closet and gang raped. Not your “typical white privilege”

        • Patty Hearst was an innocent beaten down, starved, raped and emotionally destroyed until her mind was warped by the trials she suffered. No form of privilege enters into it. FBI agents and psychiatrists spoke out for her. Even actor John Wayne spoke out how it made no sense that people could believe Jim Jones brainwashed hundreds of people into suicide at Jones Town, but did not believe the SLA could have brainwashed a single 19 year old girl after many months of torture?

          Had she killed somebody my outlook on her would be different. But she did not, and she is rightly free.

        • Vlad feels shame for his “white first-world privilege” and feels we all must atone for the alleged actions of our ancestors. Except for him.

      • There was little in the way of law and order in the 1700s and civility was exceedingly lacking. People left Europe for a lot of reasons.

        • My family’s first ancestor in the New World was sent to America under an order of judicial transportation. This would have been for some petty crime or debt, we do not know what exactly. The process was the court rules and the convicted is given a contract of indenture. Ship captains would purchase these contracts and transport the prisoners as an investment. The sale price pays the court costs and possibly the debt. Upon arrival the indenture would be auctioned to the highest bidder. We know my ancestor was auctioned in this manner, and that he did flee his new owner and was never caught.

          Such was life in the early 1700’s England and the American Colonies.

      • to vlad tepes
        Muslims execute 6 years olds all the time. You can watch the video if you can still find it. From I think three years ago. You are a self hating atheist who hates the church and hates the synagogue. Atheists like you make excuses for Islam all the time.

        “He was arrested at 13. Now Saudi Arabia wants to execute him”
        https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2019/06/middleeast/saudi-teen-death-penalty-intl/

        “Amnesty: Iran secretly executes two minor boys over rape”
        https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/04/amnesty-iran-secretly-executes-minor-boys-rape-190429183050266.html

  8. I thought 17 had always been the minimum age for being tried as an adult.
    15 and 16 I can see treating them as minors.
    At 17 you can enlist in the military.

    There may have been elements of coercion in Malvo’s crimes, but that’s a separate issue from his age.

  9. What a load of guano…guess who commits a LARGE % of Chiraq’s violent crime including murder??? You guessed it-youts. The lack of swift and sure punishment gives homie Carte Blanche to murder,rape,maim & tertorize. And black & brown Chicago gang’s use these young bucks & hombres as a disposable commodity. I’ve been in EVERY Chicago hood. I wouldn’t dream of that now…

  10. I agree the juvenile brain may not be mature until 25 as some say. But ! it can be taught right from wrong and recognize the difference. When I a teenager we didn’t even think about killing a person, we were taught better. Malvo may be a victim of poor upbringing but he was old enough to know the difference between right and wrong.

    I agree with some comments above. Life without parole = death sentence. Death sentence = trial + review + appeal, all within six months; carry out the sentence.

    Less recidivism that way.

    • JWM
      I agree no bureaucrat should have that much power.

      I’m not against the idea of death penalty for terrorism and treason in principle. But this is the same government I’ve been trying to convince that I moved 3.5 years ago. If they can’t get my address right why should they be able to tell me about firearms and numerous other things let alone life and death.

      Plus too many cases of opps DNA now shows we executed the wrong person.

    • jwm
      A serious question. Do you believe the government should disarm it’s police forces? They kill people every month. Some innocent. Some guilty.

      btw
      I support the death penalty. I also believe if the cops raid the wrong house and are shot dead by the innocent homeowner, the good guy should walk free.

      • Chris. No I do not call for disarming cops. They have the same right to defend themselves as we do. I am also on record as being against no knock raids which is where a lot of the wrong house raids seem to happen. SWAT teams should only be called in the event of shots or hostages.

        If you are too negligent as a cop leader to verify that you are raiding the right house and you are successfully repelled by the citizen who was just defending his life and property then you as a cop have no room to complain. It ain’t rocket science.

        Simply knock on the door and have a conversation with the occupant. If you have the right address and the bad guy is in fact the bad guy then the hi jinks can ensue from there.

  11. How did the Malvo Case get traction? He was a juvenile during the extended killing spree but was Charged as an Adult. We have seen juvenile murders under Juvenile Courts receive Sentences of incarceration that don’t exceed their 21st and in some cases 25th birthday? Old enough to kill with intent is old enough to die with intent of a Courts Sentence IMHO. Current Sentence was too leinent, now the bleeding hearts want reduced Sentences for all juvenile murdsrers: B.S.

  12. I can entertain the possibility of different sentencing for minors when they acted without the clarity of thought and experience that adults have.

    What I cannot entertain is different sentencing for minors who maimed or murdered for sport, such as spree killers and the Beltway sniper duo. Every person over the age of 12 (who is not mentally handicapped such as having Down Syndrome) KNOWS that it is indefensibly wrong to drive around and maim or murder people for sport.

  13. Lavy says a dozen other Virginia inmates will be affected by Malvo’s case. They include Donte Jones, who was 17 when he fatally shot a convenience store employee during a robbery; Holly Landry, who was 16 when she participated in a robbery in which a man died after being beaten with a hammer, and Jason Clem, who was 16 when he fatally stabbed his boss at the restaurant where he worked as a dishwasher.

    Gosh, by all means I want these future doctors and rocket scientists out on the streets earlier….

  14. It’s very sad but sorry, I don’t want these people to have another CHANCE to kill anyone or harm society. It’s worth them rotting in jail for life. They should be given the option to be executed or to have as full a life in jail as is possible- let them write a book, get an education, discover a new physics paradigm (HA) or just read comic books until they have a heart attack. Too bad, you shouldn’t have killed someone.

    Now, I do think that felony murder convictions where someone was merely present but didn’t choose to kill someone should be a different story, especially for juvis. They should serve the full ride of the underlying crime but I don’t think it’s fair to take a 16 year old kid who wasn’t holding a gun and throw him in prison for life for a dumb- but not murderous- decision.

  15. The British long drop works best with those convicted of murder. Teaches them the error of their ways and ensures no recidivism whatsoever.

  16. I don’t see why anyone cares about Malvo in this instance. Even if every sentence was reduced to 20 years each and he was given parole at 10 he’d still have to make it to over 110 to get out alive.

    As for the rest, that’s a case by case situation but it us true that younger people under the age of 24-27 don’t have a fully developed frontal cortex. This makes them more prone to impulsive action, more susceptible to testosterone’s effects in creating aggression while also making them less able to reason through things and more easily manipulated.

    The sum of those things is that they have a much, much greater chance of rehabilitation than someone who commits such a crime later in life. It’s not a hard cutoff, a 24 year old being less affected by these things than a 16 year old due to being far closer to having a fully developed frontal cortex, is therefore less likely to reform than the 16 year old.

    Of course there’s also the question of if the prison system actually teaches anything that reforms the kids or just reinforces their previous lifestyle and decisions and does so at exactly the wrong age… which arguably could just make them even more hardened criminals…

    Given yesterday’s video of prison guards I’d tend to lean towards the idea that prison is probably, at least the way we do it these days, the worst thing we could do if reform is the goal. But it’s not gonna change. Too much money is tied up in that system and too many people would have to admit their wrong.

  17. I mean the following question not as criticism or as a challenge; it is simply a question.

    We all train to stop an attacker. We all believe we will not hesitate when circumstances warrant it.

    But now, consider the person before you, in chains, surrounded by guards. There is no immediate threat. Could you be the executioner?

    I doubt I could do it.

    • Some men wouldn’t be soldiers as they see killing as wrong. Other men will take the job seeing it as a necessity for their nation
      Dealing with killers,seeing the injuries and devestation they leave behind will provide motivation for many.
      Ultimately how you view the death penalty is determined by your focus. If you focus on the inmate it is easy to see a man and convince yourself he has changed. If you focus on the victim and look at the bloody crime scene, understand the brutality through an autopsy and sit with a broken family member then you see the crime and it’s horror

    • 99% of the people who say “I’d do it” would fold at the moment of truth. Most of the rest would feel terrible about it for the rest of their lives.

      Those that would both do it and not feel bad about it are just as mentally deranged as the person they “put down”. Numerous people will protest that statement, call me names, tell me I’m stupid for saying it but it’s true, they just don’t want to admit it.

      This is especially true of the people who say that the convict should get exactly what their victims got.

      Mostly the people who say this are not actually mentally deranged. They’d like to think that it’s some form of ‘justice’ and they will talk about it very specifically because they know they’ll never actually have to do it. They like the concept of ‘vengeance’, though most won’t admit that, so long as they don’t have to be the one to administer it.

      The historical use of a blindfold for executions isn’t so that the convict can’t see it coming. I mean fuck, if we’re all about ‘justice’ why does that matter? It doesn’t. And if we’re killing him in a more reasonable fashion than he gave his victims then why should we care? We shouldn’t. Those aren’t the issues because it’s not about the the person being executed. It’s so that the people doing the execution don’t have to see, in real time, what they themselves have done because normal people are traumatized by killing someone who cannot resist.

      • Executions were very common until very recently. Some accounts put it as high as 1% of the population per decade in parts of Europe.

        It’s not been till maybe the last century anyone thought it barbaric or traumatizing.

  18. well what a crock of cow manure—-I always thought that is a child did not know right from wrong by six years old, it was too late——–I will however change my believe you who is responsibly——it should the child and the parents———-by the way, doesn’t the courts have better things to decide?

  19. That young man (loosely) should have been put up against a wall in front of six shooters with six rifles, five bullets and one blank. Problem cured forever without wasted future expenditures.

  20. I was locked up on the same cell block with this guy. He was gone. Almost like he was brainwashed. When you looked into his eyes you could tell he was empty inside.

  21. I totally support bringing back public executions. Since the Libertarians Liberals and the Left support broadcasting pornography. Anal sex, Beastiality, sadomasochism, bondage discipline, and torture movies like the SAW films.

    You can charge to watch a execution just like the porn channels Vivid, Hustler, or HBO charge to watch.

  22. It should be stated that Liberals and the Left don’t want law abiding citizens to have guns to protect themselves against children who murder. Or adults who murder.

    “Joshua Phillips was 14 when he murdered an eight year old and hid her body for six days, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were 10 when they killed two-year-old James Bulger and Morgan Leppert was 15 when she killed a pensioner.”

    “Children who kill – From shootings to stranglings, 12 evil kids and how they took another young life”
    https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/kids-who-kill-shootings-stranglings-8753436

    “Children who kill children: 6 high-profile cases
    Incidents include girl killing brother and parents, and two boys beating a toddler to death”

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/children-who-kill-children-6-high-profile-cases-1.1322603

    Children can even be serial killers.

    Jesse Pomeroy: The Boy Fiend of Boston
    At 13 years old he raped stabbed, slit the throats, tortured to death several other boys much younger than him.
    https://the-line-up.com/jesse-pomeroy

    If you research it you will find many, many, more.

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