Kids in jail

Children under the age of 17 should not be put in jail for life without the possibility of parole. Three reasons I believe this: 1) Children are not conscious of their actions enough to hold something they do as a 14-year-old for the rest of their life. 2) They can be rehabilitated. I don't believe any child cannot learn to be a productive member of society. 3) Actions don't happen in a vacuum and I'm guessing there have been horrible things that have happened to these children that make them do what they do.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. There is a young woman in Milwaukee who faces this possibility for stabbing her step-grandfather. It seems that if the same money that it would take to keep this person in prison for the rest of her life was put to rehabilitating her, perhaps she would not need to spend the rest of her life in jail.

For a recent story on this, you can click here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/us/10scotus.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/53314487.html

For a lengthier report on the negatives of children in prison, read this:
http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/news/images/file/From%20Time%20Out%20to%20Hard%20Time-revised%20final.pdf

I'm more than willing to listen to arguments for keeping young adults in jail for the rest of their lives, but I have trouble coming up with any reason for why you would want to let these kids sit in jail.