From: "Kay Lee" 
Subject: [illusions] BE NOT AFRAID
Date: 11 Mar 2001 18:15:24 -0500
To: "Arianna Huffington" 


Well, I see Florida has spread its brand of criminal 'justice' revenge
over little Lionel Tate.  The system has decided, in all its 'wisdom',
to destroy him in the cruelest manner possible.

What an interesting, dangerous and disgusting hypocrisy:  That we
should be damned to hell for killing him before he was born, but
somehow think we should reap some kind of reward for ever so
slowly and brutality murdering him at the earliest
opportunity after birth.

At 12 years of age this child drew the wrath of the hardhearted,
proud-to-be-hard-hitting society he was born into and two
years later, God bless Judge Joel T. Lazarus, this  'precious' life
is "all over now but the cryin'."

Let's see...Lionel's currently fourteen years old, which means
that, even with the highly increased odds in Florida's DOC of
contracting disease with notorious substandard medical treatment,
suffering mental torment and physical abuse, rape, and poor diet,
the state ought to have a good 30-40 years to turn this potential man
into an animal before he finally escapes into death.

Do you reckon this will be enough revenge to please the politically
correct?  Indeed, is there ever going to be enough?

I'm including portions of three articles and my comment on each
because I want you to see clearly the direction we are going in
(and I really believe that our leaders are taking us in this direction).

I don't care how loudly the cruel among us holler, I believe there
are many more of us who know this is wrong!  Please don't be part of
"The Turning Away".

Yesterday it was about this kid's crime. Today it's about ours!

Strongly Visualizing a Sign of Enlightenment,
Kay Lee
2613 Larry Court
Eau Gallie, Florida  32935
321-253-3673  /  715-831-9071
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
We've got to get this beast-called-justice turned around before it
swallows us up and burps out slavery! (Sorry for the imagery:))

The first article is from the New York Times and concerns the court
decision in Lionel's case.

Note the sentence, "WITHOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF PAROLE."

Even Charlie Manson comes up for parole occasionally.
kaylee

\----------------------------------------------------------/
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/10/national/10SLAY.html?ex=985288777&ei=1&en=93a8
a5ee91e2da12

A Sentence of Life Without Parole for Boy, 14, in Murder of Girl, 6
article from NYTimes.com By DANA CANEDY

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., March 9 2001

A Florida boy convicted of murdering
a 6-year-old girl when he was 12 was sentenced today to life in
prison without the possibility of parole. It may be the first time
a life sentence has been given for a crime committed at so young
an age.

A jury in January convicted the boy, Lionel Tate, now 14, of
first- degree murder for battering Tiffany Eunick to death on
July 28, 1999, in what he said was an imitation of wrestling moves.

Rejecting suggestions for leniency by the defense, and even
prosecutors, Judge Joel T. Lazarus of Broward County Circuit
Court denied a request to reduce the charge for which the boy was
convicted, a move that would have allowed him to avoid imposing
the mandatory life sentence for first degree-murder...

...While life sentences have been given to killers as young
as 13, experts in juvenile justice said they could not recall such a
sentence for anyone as young as 12.

 Local lawyers said they had thought there was little chance that
Judge Lazarus, a tough former prosecutor, would reduce the verdict.
Lionel's supporters, including some human rights groups, say the
sentence is too harsh for someone who was not yet a teenager when
he committed the murder.

 "The fundamental principal at stake here is that children are
capable of change and growth and should not be denied that
opportunity," said William F. Schultz, executive director of
Amnesty International USA, which has been monitoring the case.

**********************************************

It is my contention that no one should be denied the opportunity
to change and grow for the sake of a safer society.

When you wonder why our youth are coming unhinged, look not to
the children.  I reiterate:  This is NOT about the children -
this is about US!

Discarding young life is a growing fad.  Children are increasingly
incarcerated with adults for crimes ranging from pot smoking to
murder.  That's about our lack of desire to struggle for
answers to the problems.  It could show you that we've learned
the very unsafe practice of taking the easy way out no matter
how much worse it hurts in the long run.

This second article gives us startling evidence that we have truly
become the ultimate throwaway society, and "Save the Children"
is merely a political slogan.
kaylee

****************************************************

http://wire.ap.org/APnews/center_story.html?FRONTID=NATIONAL&STORYID=APIS72SQM5G
0


FEBRUARY 27, 17:54 EST
Justice: Youth Imprisonment Doubles
By ANJETTA McQUEEN
AP Education Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of criminals under 18 serving
time in adult prisons more than doubled between 1985 and 1997 as
states prosecuted steadily more young people as adults.

By 1997, 7,400 youths 17 or younger were committed to adult prisons
on conviction in either juvenile or adult courts. That's more than twice
the 3,400 young people sent to the nation's state prisons in 1985,
a new Justice Department report shows.

Seven in 10 young offenders who received adult punishment in 1997,
the latest year state prison records were available, were convicted for
violent offenses. Of that total, 37 percent were jailed for robbery, 13
percent for murder and 13 percent for aggravated assault, according
to the report released Sunday.

Researchers say the young inmates by no means are overrunning the
prisons' adult population of 2 million, and just 5 percent of all young
offenders punished in this country serve sentences in adult facilities.
But data suggest that today's violent young offenders are more likely
to do prison time than in years past. That's partly because of an increasing
number of state laws that take away their legal status as minors and make
them more accountable, researchers say. The crackdown, fueled in part by
high-profile school violence, has placed children as young as 11 on trial in
criminal courts.


***********************************************

What's two percent of 2 million?  I'm terrible at math.  4,000? 40,000?
That's how many children we put through this torture today.
Maybe we'll do better tomorrow.

Sigh...

This third piece of unusual information contains little known
information about death sentences for children and adds to a
clearer understanding of the revengeful state of
mind we are being programmed to accept.

Kay Lee

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The Shame of USA

The USA is one of only two countries
(the other being the collapsed state of Somalia)
that has not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Ratification by 191 countries is one of the main indicators that
the principle that children should be exempted from the death
penalty has achieved customary International Law status.

Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR) and Article 37 of the Convention on the Rights
of the Child (CRC) ban the use of the death penalty against
people who were under 18 at the time of their crimes.

When the USA ratified the ICCPR in 1992, it included a
"reservation" attempting to exempt itself from this prohibition.
The Human Rights Committee, the expert body which monitors
compliance with the treaty, has said that the reservation
contravenes the object and purpose of the ICCPR and should
be withdrawn.

Amnesty International has concluded that each of these juvenile
death sentences is contrary to International Law and must be
overturned.

World executions of child offenders (1990 - 2000)

CONGO:
Kasongo

IRAN:
Kazem Shirafkan
Ebrahim Qorbanzadeh
Jasem Abrahimi

NIGERIA:
Chiebore Onuoha

PAKISTAN:
Shamun Masih

SAUDI ARABIA:
Sadeq Mal-Allah

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
Dalton Prejean
Johnny Garrett
Curtis Harris
Frederick Lashley
Christopher Burger
Ruben Cantu
Joseph John Cannon
Robert Anthony Carter
Dwayne Allen Wright
Sean Sellers
Steve Roach
Chris Thomas
Glen McGinnis
Gary Graham

YEMEN:
Nasser Munir
Nasser al'Kirbi

***************************

There is not a set number of criminals that you can just
catch and lock away to create a perfect world.
It doesn't work that way.

The society that denies choices, wrestles power from it's people,
demands perfection of imperfect people with zero
tolerance for any deviation from an ever more demanding norm,
that seeks revenge for the sake of revenge,
that refuses Love and forgiveness and second chances,
is the society that breeds losers, criminals, sadists and outcasts.

Therefore, the number of unworthy raised for the slaughter,
separated and discarded will always grow.  Who will be left,
and when will some of them become the unaccepted?

Please, for the sake of our future, define the role we are
being tricked into playing in our own destruction.
Look at hypocrisy closely, question everything, and
try to stay close to your spirits as you determine which
policies will truly bring an uplifting of the race.

With Love,
Kay Lee
2613 Larry Court
Eau Gallie, Florida  32935
321-253-3673  /  715-831-9071

*******RESOURCES*******
Article 1:  Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company
This article was forwarded by mrobinson140@home.com
********************************
Article 2:  Associated Press
**********************************
Article 3: Statistics from Amnesty International
Compiled by AUSTRALIAN COALITION AGAINST DEATH PENALTY (ACADP)
http://ACADP.com
http://ACADP.org
http://ACADP.net
Forwarded by sallykish@aol.com

and Shared by Kay Lee
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
MAKING THE WALLS TRANSPARENT
Accessible from the parent project page
JOURNEY FOR JUSTICE  at:
http://www.journeyforjustice.org

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