Dear FRONTLINE,

Dear Frontline,

I am shaken by the injustice of committing children or young adults to prison without parole. In fact, the episode led me to more queries. Is the purpose of our justice system to offer retribution or do we seek to contain criminals away from society or do we wish to punish? I suspect that in theory, a just society seeks to rehabilitate as much as possible, while containing, and punishing the "incorrigible" criminals. But life without parole, without "a reason to live", seems effectively retributive. The political pressure from the families of victims...if justice and policies are susceptible to their grief, then the mitigating circumstances of the offenders, too, must be fully and equally considered. But at the same time, I wonder if Frontline selected cases with the most appealing mitigating circumstances. We heard mostly from families of offenders, and did not hear the victim's side of the story. Yes, the media does a terribly exceptional job at bringing each gruesome detail of the crimes to light to a point of mind-numbing horror, but their presentation does not necessarily represent the voices of the victims. I pray that the movement towards abolishing life without parole for children and young adults is successful, soon, for both future offenders and retrospective inmates. I also pray that a life sentence without parole be abolished for adults, as well. It is a sad spectacle that a country so prideful of its focus on human rights should profess that execution must be more humane than living in prison until death.

Caela Parks
Dallas, TX

Dear FRONTLINE,

In 1999, my 17 year old son was sentenced to life in prison without parole here in Virginia. He spent the first five years in a Super Max far away in the mountains. What he did was wrong. However, I think life without parole is a cruel and unusual punishment for a juvenile. I would like to work to change the laws. Could you please guide me to any Virginian advocacy groups. Thank you.

Margaret Williams
Virginia Beach, Virginia

FRONTLINE's editors respond:

Please see our Reading & Links for national juvenile justice advocacy groups -- and victims' rights groups -- which can direct you to state or local resources.

Dear FRONTLINE,

Thank you for this piece. It brought to light many emotions inside me, and gave a personal touch to this juducial/societal/familial challenge as I watched the film. I am facinated with the reports I have read prior to seeing the film that delve into the mind of adolescent males. There have been several studies indicating portions of the male, adolescent brain allow for impaired decision making during these developmental (teenage) years. Perhaps these medical experts should chime-in at the appeals that will be allowed in Colorado?? At some point we need to make these connections, I feel, so that we all might understand why these situations became so extreme for these young men. Children do not come into the world with instruction books for parents and/or guardians. Loving, sheltering, and attempting to protect a child is apparently not enough.

Louisville, Kentucky

Dear FRONTLINE,

Frontline tonight was horrifying to me, young teens sentenced to life in prison. These specific teens, their stories of abuse by parents, were so disturbing. And the Colorado sentences so harsh. How can we help these men, now imprisoned ten years or more, to regain their free lives? Please let us know how we can help reverse these sentences. And the young man in the maximum facility and he doesnt really know why...can't someone help this case to be resolved?

Dallas, Tx

FRONTLINE's editors respond:

In 2006, Colorado passed a law ending the practice of sentencing juvenile offenders to life without parole, but the law was not retroactive. For the inmates in this report, the only options would be for the legislature to revisit the issue or for the state's governor to pardon, commute or otherwise alter their sentences. It is less likely, given existing case law, that a court would strike down the sentence of life without parole as cruel and unusual, although some legal experts feel the argument used by the U.S. Supreme Court in Roper v. Simmons (2005) to strike down the death penalty for juveniles could also be applied to life without parole.

Dear FRONTLINE,

Dear Frontline,

I believe that you have to walk in either shoes to experience what they are feeling. Yes, they are kids. On the other hand, they took lives! Parents/siblings of imprisoned kids can still visit/see them. The imprisoned kids can appear on television shows and give their opinions. While the parents of the dead ones can only visit tombs or show old photographs.You should not justify a child killing the mother. If you believe that there was a case of sexual abuse, report it. In life, there's always an action and a reaction. It's a cold and hard life but no matter what we do, we reap the results. If kids are going the wrong way, show them examples of what happens to kids that go down that path. Don't shield your child from what the consequences of his actions could lead him to.

Best regards.

North Haven, CT

Dear FRONTLINE,

Though, as usual, I found Frontline's topic and execution fascinating, I am left uncomfortable. Certainly it is terribly tragic that the five men profiled will spend the vast majority of their lives incarcerated. While I realize that the intention of the show was to discuss the plight of LWOP youth, I felt that (especially in the section that focused on the Jensens), the persoective was unbalanced. It's horrible that Erik will be in prison for the rest of his life, but the way his parents talked about it and the tenor of the interview was such that the viewer was given the impression that Erik was the victim. He may be the victim of something--politics, bureaucracy, an unfair trial, etc--but he is not the individual whose life was taken. In all the stories portrayed, the culpability of the subject, I felt, was only superificially examined. Had they not commited the crimes of which they have been convicted, they wouldn't be facing this plight. Not to give some recognition to the victims and the manor of their deaths form an unbiased perspective seems superificial and unfair.

Nina Cohen
Newton, MA

Dear FRONTLINE,

These young men, especially the two from Colorado, seem remarkably detached from the fact that they are responsible for their actions. Despite having had many years to ponder the choices that only they made, each young man offered one excuse after another for why their present situation is so unjust. I also did not hear from any of these young men any truthful reflection about the role drugs and alcohol played in their poor judgement. I guarantee you, from the photos you showed on the program, that those young men were high on something in several of the pictures.

I also had an extremely poor reaction to the mother of one of the Colorado boys, who was dismayed about the mother following her son at night to see where he went. I cannot speak to the incestuous accusations leveled at the mother who was slain but I can say that I could see how a parent would want to make sure their child was going where they said they were going to go. There are teenage friendships which I refer to as toxic relationships in which one or more so-called buddies coax each other to have behavior they would not have on their own such as stealing, lying, and even more destructive behaviors.

These young men are where they are because of the choices they made and I wish I had heard them take some measure of responsibility for their actions. The last young man profiled did say that he had thrown his life away. Yes, I agree. But isn't it too sad that when one makes the wrong choices, catastrophic choices that there is indeed hell to pay.

Cleveland Heights, OH

Dear FRONTLINE,

Very moving program. Perhaps some of these incarcerated young men who were interviewed could write a monthly newsletter about their thoughts/reflections/advice to our nation's youth on how to avoid getting into the same situations. Writing their thoughts on a regular basis might allow them to feel that they are giving something positive back to the community. At the same time they could be helping educate their peers in high schools/colleges throughout the USA about what life is like without parole - and thus provide preventive advice (i.e., to encourage youngsters to seek help with family issues, and not to succumb to peer pressure, etc.).

Raleigh, NC

FRONTLINE's editors respond:

One of the inmates, Erik Jensen, has started a foundation for at risk youth. Its Web site is available on our Readings & Links page.

Dear FRONTLINE,

"The test of the morality of a society is in what it does for its children."Dietrich Bonhoeffer

What are we really doing for our children? We are giving no mercy to those who we failed to protect and properly guide in the first place. Many juvenile offenders have endured horrible acts of injustice from others and horrible living situations prior to committing their crimes. How can we protect those who cannot protect themselves (children, youth) in order to end the cycles of violence and injustice in our society?

kayla smith
Bethel, CT

Dear FRONTLINE,

I was personally convicted of a non-violent crime (drug sales) when I was a teenager and subsequently sentenced to 20 years incarceration. During my time of incarceration, I was around many "lifers" both youthful and adult. From a personal perspective I can say that maturity and growth were more prevelant with the younger offenders. To be given life without the possibility of parole is a very hands off approach to dealing with the deeper rooted issues that face our troubled youth. In an afterthought, it's also ludicrous that our government supports programs such as i.e. sexually deviant adult reform groups but it is willing to give L.W.P. to children! Where is the justice and rational?

Logansport, Indiana

Dear FRONTLINE,

It is so sad to hear thses stories! We feel for both families. I think these young men were treated so unfairly! I lost a son on 12-30-05, although it was'nt murder,I can understand how the families feel. My heart goes out to all the families on your program tonight!

Angie Redden
clover, s.c.

Dear FRONTLINE,

Another Canadian Perspective...from a Police Officer.

There are a few things with this story that does not sit well with me.

The first, besides sentencing a juvenile to life with parole, is how the DA's office has the final say in where the juvenile will have their case heard. How can this not violate your own constitution? One person, the DA, has the final say. Where are the rights of the accused? Yes the crime may be heinous, but now one person, hired by the state decides on the balance of probabilities, that the accused had commited the crime.

In Canada, a juvenile charged with murder, has a hearing before a closed court, with presiding Judge, who determines on the evidence provided, whether the accused should have his case heard in juvenile or adult court.

It would seem Colorado has decided 'unproven facts' as determined by a paid member of the state, before trial far out-weigh the rights as stated in your constitution that you so vehemently defend.

J.D. BoydEdmonton, Alberta

J.D. Boyd
Edmonton, Alberta

Dear FRONTLINE,

Frontline once again airs a piece that implies the exception is the norm rather than what really IS the norm. California - 180 kids, Massachusettes - 60, Colorado - 45 ... these are all progressive liberal blue states. So why the high numbers? One word - Gangs!!! The young men shown tonight are not the norm in most teen life w/o parole cases. The normal case is some gangbanger who has brutally murdered another human being senselessly to satisfy some gang rule or gang leader's wishes or because the victim was simply in the wrong place. The gang member is getting the punishment he/she deserves. The legislative representatives in these states are responding to public pressure to do something about these gangs, thus the harse punishments. Sometimes the net of justice catches those undeserving of such harseness and I feel for their plight within the system. But these young men are paying the price as much for the actions of others that helped to create these harsh sentences as their own actions.

Vince Shahayda
Virginia Beach, Virginia

Dear FRONTLINE,

If these LWOP sentences are so horrendous, there is one alternative in our judicial system that the producer did not present to us: a pardon from the governor. Why did the producer not ask the governor of Colorado why he does not consider this possibility in these cases, or why the grieving parents aren't trying that course? Pardon is a legitimate escape-valve for when the system goes seriously wrong, but from what I hear about these cases, errors were not made. I bet that is why the producer did not broach that issue. I'll also say I did not like the tenor of this piece. LWOP is also a legitimate alternative to execution of minors, reflecting the severity of the crimes they committed. We are now benefiting from lower crime rates, thanks to the get-tough-on-crime movement, and lock-em-away-and-throw-away-the-keys legislatures. We tried leniency, and we got kids out of control. Now we clearly have a more sensible society, this is certainly not the time to let up and allow these murderers back on the street. There is something about murder that society holds as especially abhorrant, and that is because murderers cross an an ethical bridge that the rest of us in society fear to cross. These may have been kids when they committed the crimes, but they are no longer and I am happy to pay for their incarceration for the rest of their lives. Finally, it sounds like these LWOP sentences were largely jury decisions. After seeing evidence that it was not possible to present in an hour-long show, the people spoke through the jury system about what they felt about the nature of these crimes. I favor that, and the certainty of a sentence that doesn't require parents to show up repeatedly at parole hearings like the victims of the Manson family and others have to do.

Edward Allen
Arlington, Va.

FRONTLINE's editors respond:

The sentence of life without parole is mandated by law in Colorado. Juries in the state are instructed not to consider sentencing when rendering a verdict. In the cases of Jacob Ind and Trevor Jones, some jurors from the original trials have told reporters that they objected to the sentences handed down.

Dear FRONTLINE,

Loved the show. Felt bad for all the participants. It did seem a bit unfair that you found the one victim that had only vengence in mind. Was there no victim that felt compassionate?Could have done without the emotional sister. After all, are we not having a unemotional look at the law?In a weird way the Jensen's are dealing with the loss of their son to a senseless murder. This one story was hard to take.

Kevin Wood