1. How would you characterize Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel’s statement: “‘The one thing that we don't know is what the potential of the life would be that was snuffed out in the crime’” (Paragraph 24)? 2. Do you find the story of Charles Dutton compelling or inspirational? Why do you think we, as a society, prize the idea of redemption so highly?
3. According to the article, many states’ policies dictate that an adolescent offender’s age cannot be taken into account: “‘Judges can't consider it. Juries can't consider it. No one can consider it’” (Paragraph 10). Why do you think such a law exists in the first place? Is this a fair law? In the context of this article, what is fair? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
4. Charles Dutton argues that, “‘If there's anyone who still has a modicum of redemption left in their life, it's a juvenile’” (Paragraph 22). In the context of this article, what does it mean to be grown up? Do you think the juvenile offenders are being totally treated as if they were adults? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
5. The author emphasizes that one juvenile accused of murder was “so brutalized as a child that by the time he was arrested for murder at age 14, he had tried to kill himself six times”