Alexia Gaines

October 22, 2015

Kids Who Kill
Response 7: Lost for Life Documentary
This week, I watched the documentary, Lost for Life, and analyzed the
movie to see how they appealed to both ethos and logos to reinforce a view
of how kids who kill should be treated. The documentary was used to see
if our original view point about how kids who kill should be treated changed
after watching the movie.
My original viewpoint about punishments for kids who kill is mixed. For
the most part, I dont believe that kids who kill should be locked up and the
key thrown away. Kids kill for different reasons, and those reasons should be
considered when doling out sentences. For example, kids who are in horribly
abusive situations and kill their abuser shouldnt be given the same
treatment/sentence as a child serial killer who tortured and killed people.
Overall, I believe that the juvenile justice system should be
rehabilitative, and I, also, believe that part of rehabilitation is
punishment/retribution. People need to be reminded why certain behavior is
unacceptable, and I believe the retribution aspect reinforces that notion.
Watching the movie, I could see many different emotional and
intellectual appeals made to convince the viewer to view kids who kill in a
certain light. First off, they opened the documentary contrasting the
pleading phone call of an adolescent with a photo of a murdered victim to
suggest the idea Kids are still kids even if they do something horrible. It
was followed quickly by an official stating that it was the responsibility of the
system to protect and help these children despite their crimes. Just from the
first minute of the documentary, it is apparent the viewpoint of the
documentary comes more from a rehabilitative or sympathetic perspective.
The documentary presented a conflict of emotions, first showing the
perspective of two juvenile killers, and then showing the perspective of
families of juvenile killers and the families of victims of juvenile killers. I liked
how the documentary showed that the families of the juvenile killers were
impacted just as much as the families of the victims of juvenile killers. A lot
of times, media and TV forget to highlight that fact.
Many of the killers featured in this documentary suffered extreme
abuse during their childhood. The documentary brings up the question of
how responsible the community is in helping to keep children safe.
Evenmoreso, it questions how much a juvenile killer should be held
responsible when theyve experience such a harsh childhood.

The documentary calls for its viewers to think more about how to best
help both the juvenile killers and the families of the victims of the juvenile
killers. Marty Beyer, professional expert, called the necessity of making sure
the juvenile killers do experience some type of punishment for their crimes
while also making sure that the killers, damaged from traumatic childhoods,
do not get swept under the rug without being treated and cared for
mentally. In my experience, Ms. Meyer says, the number of kids that
cannot be rehabilitated is very small. They use Sean Taylor as an example.
Mr. Taylor was a member of the Bloods and was arrested at a young age for
first degree murder. After being released in adulthood after a Supreme Court
hearing banning life sentences for youth, Mr. Taylor went on to successfully
merging back into society. So, not only can juvenile killers be rehabilitated.
If they do happen to be, they have the chance to assimilate into normal
society!
My perspective after watching Lost for Life isnt different from the one I
had before watching the documentary. While some kids are cold, cruel,
possibly psychopathic killers, there are still many kids whose surroundings
heavily influence their behavior. These surroundings can influence them to
commit horrible acts. As a result, it is true that they should suffer some form
of punishment. However, the process shouldnt be stopped there. If juvenile
killers are rehabilitated, many of them could return to society and have very
successful and helpful lives. The ones who can do so shouldnt be pushed
aside just because some juvenile killers cannot be rehabilitated.