For Life

This week has been depressing. For one one from the doorstep community told me that he's terminally ill and that doctors had told him he'd be lucky to see the end of September. I really feel sorry for him. He's a nice guy, very frienldy, always greets.

Secondly, I read an article in the guardian weekend magazine about prisoners who had been sentenced to life without parole. Bad enough, they were kids when the committed the crime. And worse still, two of them actualy didn't kill anyone. They were complicit to murder. I knew that the judicial system in th US is strange. I knew about the death penalty of course. And thought that's bad enough for a democracy. Pustekuchen.

I have learned that life sentenced actually means imprisonment for life. You never leave prison,. You die in prison. In one way or the other. Excuse my ignorance, in Germany it's 15 years.

I have also learned that kids can be jailed. For life. In one case a 17-year old was convicted because her boyfriend, the killer, accused her of actively taking part in the murder - in contrary of what he said while question first by the police. So the murder actually made a deal by testifying that his girlfriend took part in the murder. The result, he gets a 20-50 year sentence with the chance of leaving prison earlier for good bevaiour. She gets life without parole. What kind of world is it, we are living in? An injustice that cries out to high heaven.

Even here, we can add some sarcasm to the already absurd story.

"When she was sentenced, the judge ruled that the time she had spent in jail awaiting trial - 264 days - should be credited against her term of incarceration. What does that mean?"