Lowe 1

Emma Lowe
Dr. Billie Dziech & Professor Sue Bourke
Kids Who Kill
21 October 2015
How Documentaries Affect Kid Killers
Crime and punishment. When I was growing up, I was taught and consistently reinforced
with the thought that if you do the crime, you do the time. While this mentality seems so simple
and easy to follow, especially for a 6 year old kid, the older I get, the more prevalent it has
become that punishment for those who commit crimes or acts of delinquency is a lot more
complicated than originally thought. For instance, with violent youths, there seems to be a lot of
cases in which youths who have committed very serious and/or violent crimes, including murder,
were largely affected by a toxic environment and some physical deficiency, which are factors
that are mostly out of their control. This makes punishing such youths, who may be victims
themselves, a much more complicated solution than just locking them away for life.
Murders, but young killers especially, should be sentenced on a case by case basis in
which all factors of the case are considered, including the amount of pain inflicted on the victim,
the killers biological and environmental factors, their recidivism, and so much more. Those
youths with mental illness should not be treated the same way as those without, as mental illness
plays a huge part in altering someones decision making and actions. Also, those who are found
to more likely return to criminal behavior should not be released to society, as the killer could
repeat their offense are hurt many more people. I do believe that some kid killers just arent in
the right state of mind when they commit their acts of delinquency or that they have not lived in

Lowe 2
an environment that has allowed them to develop properly, and that with time, they can truly
change and understand the magnitude of their wrong doing.
In the documentary Lost For Life, several prison inmates, their families, and some
victims families are interviewed about their story of how these youth killings have affected their
lives. This documentary utilizes many emotional and some intellectual appeals in which viewers
opinions, including my own, have been slightly altered or even simply second guessed. One
example of this is with Torey and Brain. Both boys have a part in the documentary in which a
recording of a phone call they made to their parents is played back and old family photos are
shown as the messages are played, showing how scared they are and how they are just regular
people. Then, for Brain, they show his arms and legs, as he has a large amounts of scars and
sores from cutting and hurting himself over his grief and remorse for what he did. These
emotional segments cause you to think that they just made a horrible mistake and completely
regret the decisions they made the night they murdered their friend, Cassie. At least for me, this
made me think that maybe their treatment should be a little less severe due to the fact that they
understand that what they did was wrong and they seem to have stable minds. Another example
is with Josiah and Jacob. During both of their segments, they seems like a very rational people
and admit to their wrong doings. When Josiah was asked about how he was treated by his
parents, he tries to brush off his parents abuse as simply being normal, such as being spanked for
bad behavior, but his lawyer tells him that he needs to be honest about how he was treated
because it was horrific, which his sister also eludes to throughout the documentary. This with the
video footage of Jacobs brother testifying about the physical abuse their parents inflicted on
them are very emotional scenes. Hearing the detailed account of how Jacob was beaten,
basically raped, and mentally traumatized by both his mother and stepfather constantly

Lowe 3
uttering destructive statements to him, such as telling him how worthless he is and that he
deserves the abuse, but mostly his step father, it makes you think that he is more of the victim
than the criminal, and similarly with Josiah. Jacobs case really caused me to really think through
my opinions about how kid killers are treated as Jacob killed his parents, which based off of all
the trauma they inflicted on him, makes it almost seem more like he was trying to protect
himself, not killing just to kill. What really hit emotionally was his thoughts on how he feels now
and how he has changed since then, as he does not blame his parents for how they treated him
and simply wants to alleviate the pain he has inflicted on so many others because of his actions.
From the victims side of the story, there is almost all emotional appeal. In Nancys case,
her mother takes the crew down to the basement where she was killed and details how when she
comes down there she thinks about how her daughter felt when she was dying, was she cold, in
excruciating pain, etc. These thoughts, visible hurt from the family, and attention to the victim
makes it hard to not punish the kid killers because they take someones life and possibly caused
them to feel unbearable pain. As Nancys sister pointed out, the standards for life without parole
are high with many factors taken into consideration when deciding to give someone this
sentence, so those who are given such a fate obviously deserves it and must have done some
truly terrible things.
Intellectually, the documentary didnt make as obvious points as with the emotional
appeals, but there were a few that seemed to cause the audience to reflect more on their opinions.
For instance, after hearing from a professional, Marty Beyer, PhD, in the documentary about
how unresolved trauma can result in aggression and depression for youths during adolescents,
and that in Jacobs case, he tried to get help, but society failed to help him, it definitely made
Jacobs case, and cases similar to his, seem as if they should not be treated as harshly or at least

Lowe 4
given better rehabilitation measures that could help him resolve his trauma and then possibly
return to society. Marty also states how the number of kids that cannot be rehabilitated after
committing such violent crimes is very small. All of this information really swayed my opinion
of how kid killers are treated to be more of making their punishments focused around
rehabilitation, as this would allow for the victims to receive some justice for the horrible crimes
committed against them, but also allow for youths who may have been led in the wrong direction
or could help make society a better place, like Sean demonstrates, as he went from being a gang
member who killed another young person to someone who helps to prevent other youths from
committing his same mistakes.
Overall, I still feel that kids who kill need to be punished for their crimes, as this gives
justice to those they have hurt so badly, but after watching this documentary, my opinions have
definitely been altered and caused me to truly think through my opinions more due to its large
amounts of emotional appeals and intellectual appeals.

Documentary contains intellectual and emotional appeals that caused you to alter
or reinforce your views of punishment for violent young people.
Cassie:
-

Struck hard when girl he liked started dating someone else, felt like
loser/loner and thoughts of scream type crimes that Tori talked about made it
seem better than being a loner.
Torey still treated like regular kid (family kind, kind person). Lumped
together in stories and portrayed as psychopathic killer. Mom reminds to
brush teeth and normal things at age 21.
Just did things without thinking (locking door). Almost sound joking about her
having to die and making this plan for her perfect death.
Hard for him to talk about actual event of murder and starts getting semiupset (sniffs, stutters).
Freaked out and shocked about events.
Parents didnt know what they missed.

Lowe 5
-

Family: Strong and good relationship with Brian. Normal. Wanted counseling,
but not given it before crime.
Toreys mom overwhelmed with life having to walk into prison every time
(visibly upset).
Torey is follow, not leader. Now totally different people.
Parents kind of convinced hes completely innocent when he kind of takes
some responsibility.
Torey is ambitious, but feels he can only sit and rot.
Brian admits hes guilty and says thats where you should start. Hurts himself
(cuts all over legs and arms).
People who new Brian said they knew better that he wasnt that kid.

Jacob:
-

Your Moms a bitch, you should kill her put idea in his mind that he kept
going back to when times got hard.
Just wanted it to be over so shot both mom and step dad as they were dying
from wounds.
Jacobs brother he would basically rape us. Step father afterwards your
so dirty, dont take a shower.
If trauma not treated in young kids, can result in aggression and depression.
Coldness of mom and father slammed up wall. Mom would call worthless and
deserved what he got. Mom said never tell cops anything and cops would
give parents metal because he was such an awful kid.
Tried to get help, serving life sentence for the sins of our community. Nobody
helped him.
Doesnt like who he is, reflected and worked on things he didnt like. Learned
new lessons and apply it to his life (empathize better).
Life without parole negates rehabilitation.
Clueless to how many people he would hurt. He has to make up to family to
make it up for them.
Have to think how parents were treated that made them that way, so dont
deserve death.

Nancy:
-

dont you care about victims at all? Nancys sister

Mom thinks about how she felt when she was murdered.
Life without parole standards are very high

Amber:
-

Commitment to stay in someones life when they are in prison. Families forget
about them, but refuses.
Grateful for family being a part of his life still.
Lawyer tells him not to put gloss over something that isnt true (parents
spanked, Lawyer makes sounds worse than he put it).
Sister grew up in religious cult.
Left with random prophets in the house, we could have been protected
better.

Lowe 6
Sean:
-

Joined bloods at 14. Started not so bad and got worse as situation got worse.
Killed someone first time he ever shot gun (man walking home from work).
Shoot gun at house to scare them (crips).
Nothing was serious until shot someone and wanted out of gang.
Wanted to follow Islam.
Try to help people, not sit depressed.
Reached out to gang bangers that there is a better life that makes more
sense.
Given readings in prison.
Wrote governor to be put in position to prevent others from being put in
position like he was.
Feels blessed, but stays focused to do whatever he can to stop other young
people from making his same mistakes.

3 year old son killed in drive by. Doesnt want to forgive. Guilty and shame
there for offenders family as she thought about 16 year old son.

MANDATORY life without parole for kids under 18 unconstitutional.

Number of kids who cannot be rehabilitated is very small (PhD womans

opinion).