A reader's letter to Gary North: "Thanks for writing that column. Unfortunately your organization wasn't around for a friend of mine's son. At 16 he was sent to a maximum security prison for a first offense. Because of mandatory sentencing laws and prosecutors looking for ways to try kids as adults, which seems to be gaining in popularity, he ended up there instead of a juvenile facility or lesser institution.
"He was raped repeatedly and eventually took his own life after repeated pleas for help. He wasn't a violent boy but the 'law and order' crowd today want their pound of flesh any way they can get it. I despise and hate the 'system' today. All it did here was crush any hope this kid might have had in his life.
"I still find it hard to believe that God can even exist in such a hellish place. He would have been better off being shot dead by the police before his first court appearance. I just hope God was good to him and took into consideration what drove him to this level of despair, because he actually wanted to just do his time and turn his life around.
"This evil, barbaric system we have simply ensured that would never happen. I firmly believe that the court system along with the prison system are nothing more than an employment program for government officials. Their motto? 'Let's keep 'em coming back to prison'. That way their jobs are secure. I don't know who are the bigger monsters, the truly violent criminal or the govt. officials who preside over this system."
