Should Juveniles Be Tried As Adults?

By Julian Izabal
The perfect crime has its perfect punishment, and that punishment goes for everyone no matter what? If Mike shoplifts a small ten dollar item, should he get 15 years in state prison? No, that is not a punishment that matches shoplifting, maybe 10 hours of community service would serve him right and Mike will not steal again. If James murders someone and gets 10 hours of community that definitely does not match; 6 years to life sounds a lot better and does match. Should all juveniles be tried as adults? If the youth offender commits a heinous crime, the juvenile should be tried as an adult.
According to Laurence Steinberg, a writer of USA Today, “Rather than choosing to define offenses committed by youth as delinquent, society increasingly is opting to redefine them as adults and transfer them to the adult court and criminal justice system,” society is saying juvenile delinquents committed a crime, and should be treated as an adult. Steinberg goes on to report “Most reasonable people agree that a small number of young offenders should be transferred to the adult system because they pose a genuine threat to the safety of other juveniles, the severity of their offense merits a relatively more severe punishment or their history of repeated offending bodes poorly for their ultimate rehabilitation.” Steinberg also goes on to say that out of the tens of thousands of young people, who are currently being prosecuted in the adult system, a huge portion of which didn’t even commit violent crimes.
In March of 2001 a Florida jury sentenced 14 year old Lionel Tate, to life in prison without parole for accidentally killing his younger sister which he was practicing wrestling moves on. According to John D. Salant of the Associated Press, “The private MacArthur Foundation study released today says that many children under 16 had as much difficulty grasping the complex legal proceedings as adults who had been ruled incompetent to go to court.” If juveniles in a legal proceeding are as useful as putting an adult who has “been ruled incompetent” because the offender “cannot grasp the complexity of his actions,” then why is there a juvenile legal system? Yes, there are some cases in which the youth offender does not understand what his or her actions have caused, but that is not the case all of the time. Some juveniles do know what they are doing, and commit heinous crimes because they had a disagreement with someone.
In the chart below “Over three-quarters of these cases involved 17 year old offenders, and two-thirds of them were offenders of color. In contrast, 81% of the victims were adults. Over two-thirds of the victims are white, and half are females.” ("Characteristics of Offenders and Victims in Juvenile Death Penalty Cases (As of December 31, 2004)")

Characteristics of Offenders and Victims in Juvenile Death Penalty Cases (As of December 31, 2004)
JUVENILE OFFENDERS VICTIMS OF JUVENILE OFFENDERS
AGE AT TIME OF CRIME RACE
Age Nr %
16 13 18
17 58 82
Race Nr %
Native Amer. 1 1
Asian 2 3
Black 29 41
Latino 15 21
White 24 34

BY AGE BY RACE BY GENDER
Age Nr
0-15 13
16-19 12
20-29 15
30-39 15
40-49 14
50-59 8
60-69 4
70-79 8
80-82 1
Unknown 6
Race Nr
Native
Amer. 1
Asian 7
Black 8
Latino 10
White 64
Unknown 6
Gen. Nr %
M 49 51
F 47 49



“As of December 31, 2004, 71 persons were on death row for juvenile crimes. These 71 condemned juveniles constituted about 2% of the total death row population of 3,487. Although all were ages 16 or 17 at the time of their crimes, their current ages range from 18 to 43. They were under death sentences in 12 different states and had been on death row from 4 months to 24 years. Texas had by far the largest death row for juvenile offenders, holding 29 (40%) of the national total of 72 juvenile offenders” says, Professor Victor L. Strieb, former Dean and Professor of law at Ohio Northern University, now at Elon University Law School. ("Characteristics of Offenders and Victims in Juvenile Death Penalty Cases (As of December 31, 2004)") Should juveniles really be treated differently when they know what they are doing?
Work Cited
Steinberg Web. 20 Jan 2011. .
Salant, John. "Youths Shouldn't Be Tried As Adults, Study Says Many not competent enough to aid defense." Associated Press (2003): n. pag. Web. 22 Jan 2011. .
"Characteristics of Offenders and Victims in Juvenile Death Penalty Cases (As of December 31, 2004)." Juvenile Offenders Who Were on Death Row. Web. 22 Jan 2011. .

Should MLK Day Be A Holiday?

Martin Luther King Jr. day is an observance of Dr. King who was the chief spokesman for nonviolent activism in the civil rights movement, which successfully protested racial discrimination in federal and state law. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, which is around the time of King's birthday, January 15. This year of 2011 it falls on January 17, and marks the 11th year in which it is observed in all 50 states. The campaign for a federal holiday in King's honor began soon after his assassination in 1968. Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983, and it was first observed in 1986.
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) starting on August 13, 1961, which completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. Eventually on November 9, 1989 The “Iron Curtain” fell, and West Germany was reunited with East Germany. All though the entire wall did not fall on this day, it is the day that symbolizes the reunion of Germany, and is not celebrated on this day because of previous events that have occurred. Even though it is not a yearly celebration on that day in Germany due to other previous events in History, why can’t it be celebrated in the United States?
If the fall of the Berlin wall is just as significant, if not even more significant than MLK day why is it not celebrated? To me the fall of the wall signifies the beginning of the end of the Cold War, and Dr. King is a very important person in history he is just one man who lead the civil rights movement not the civil rights movement itself. He did not start the movement and was not the only person or part of any one group pushing for equality. The Berlin Wall was set in place to “Protect Fascism,” some people believe that it was set in place so that people in East Germany would not flee to the West and that would cause the Soviet Union to lose power. The fall of the wall symbolizes the fall of Fascism, and the start of a unified world full of information available to the general public and freedom. If the fall of the fall of the Berlin Wall is not a day to be observed, then why should Martin Luther King, Jr. day a federal Holiday?

Who is the Future SEHS Baseball MVP?

One question baseball coaches seem to be asking themselves right now is “Who will be the next MVP?”

            With baseball season at an end it seems coaches are having some trouble picking a top player. One thing that two of the contenders [pitchers] for MVP have to be compared on is their ERA (earned run average). Pitchers are also judged by how many full games they played, if they have any shutouts, and their win and loss history. All players are also judged on their batting average, and how well they hit.

            Armando Rodriguez, a junior and pitcher for South East High Schools’ baseball team, is one person with an outstanding season. With an ERA of 2.21which is almost impossible to receive in the “pros” and 39 strikeouts, Rodriguez also has two shutouts, two complete games, and a win loss ratio of 5-2. Rodriguez says that his main goal this year is to “do better than last season.”  

Rodriguez said, “I had to practice more” to improve overall performance. Rodriguez’s hard work paid-off for him big time when he made 1^st team all league (best of the best players of a league) this year and the team made it to the play-offs. Rodriguez is proving to make MVP hard for anyone else to receive, but one other pitcher is fighting back to win the title.

            Caesar Carrillo, a senior and pitcher at SEHS, has a record just as good, and maybe even better than Rodriguez. Carrillo has an ERA of 2.52, which is slightly below Rodriguez, but is still above average. Carrillo also has 28 strikeouts, two shutouts, four complete games, and a win loss ratio of 6-2.

            Carrillo has a batting average of .412, which means he has hit 41.2% of all at bats this season. With a .412 BA Carrillo also has 15 RBI’s (Runs batted In). All the hard work that both Carrillo and Rodriguez put into practice has paid off and may earn them scholarships if they continue in baseball after high school.

Track In The View Of Two

                         By Julian Izabal

                                                            Times Sports Editor

With the season just getting underway the Track and Field team is off to a slow start, but a winning streak may be on the horizon.

The first track meet against Garfield High School was not a good start to the season. “The team did not seem to connect for the first game, no one was cheering for anybody, there was pretty much no support”, says Giovanna Garcia, a runner on the Track team, and a junior at South East High School.

Nathan Mejia, a junior at SEHS says, “The girls won but the guys lost because the junior varsity team did not have much experience, and the Varsity team just was not ready or pumped to run.” Garcia says that one thing that people would be surprised with is cheering, “You would be surprised how a few cheers would really make someone push themselves.” To add on to what Garcia says could have been done better, Mejia says, “You just gotta be ready to run, you also have to really want it.”

Although Garcia was injured for two games, she says that she helped out by “Congratulating all my team-mates whether they won or lost.”

When the time came to face Bell High School, Garcia was pumped and ready to run. Garcia says being back in the 4x4 relay was “Exciting.” She also says “It was crazy because we [the team] only won by two points.” Mejia says, “It was great cause we swept them, in shot-put.”

Mejia practices for shot put every day, with coach Cervantes. Coach Cervantes watches the team do their drills, he then tells the shot putters what to fix based on what he sees.

 The team celebrates a game by going to the weight room and waits quietly to hear their scores. When they win “You hear everyone cheering,” says Garcia.

Jaguars in Spring Training

 

            With football season on the horizon, the team is already working hard.

 

 

            Although football season is not until September, the football team has been practicing for three months now. They have been in weight training and in practice without pads for the basic stances for their position(s). From January through mid-February, the team has been preparing for their first “max-out”. Max-outs serve one main purpose, to make the athlete stronger and faster. Max-outs consist of bench-press, power-clean, squat, 40-meter dash, and shuttle-run.

With the first max-out week done the coaches now have to figure out which athlete goes in which group, so that he [athlete] is in a group of people with, or around the same strength. These groups start with the people who are the strongest all the way down to the weakest, but that chart changes with every “max-out”. Coaches have also created several percentage charts that show the maximum weight an athlete reached. The percentage chart will also help with the weight the athlete should use for the workout, depending on what’s written for the week or day of that workout.

The veteran players lifting heavy had a few small surprises from the new players. “Julio Arevalo, a Freshman, at South East High School did some of the weight that most new players do when its their first time maxing-out, but Kevin Romano, a Junior, at SEHS surprised me a lot because he lifted more weight than I expected him to lift,” says Carlos Cid, a Junior, at SEHS and also a captain of the team.

 Now that the first max-out week has come and gone [Febuary22-Febuary26] the team can start working on their techniques. The light weight is the first week because the coaches will not be as lenient with border line max-outs [not doing complete squats, etc.] on the upcoming max-outs.

Not only do they have to practice those techniques, but also work on their stances and techniques for the position(s) the athlete intends to play. With the team already practicing many different techniques for their next max-out and upcoming season, they will be extremely busy trying to balance out their schedule, so that they are not grade-cut.

Jaguars Anticipate powder Puff Game

By Christopher Casillas, Diego Munoz, Oscar Basurto, Emmanuel Delgado, Daisy Ceballos, Jazmin Tapia, and Julian Izabal

Juniors and seniors get ready for the Powder Puff game coming to South East High School on April 23 from 6 through 8.

The Powder Puff is a tradition at many high schools and universities. Ms. Che said, “This tradition has been out for the last three years”. Girls play football and boys are cheerleaders. Girls play flag football for the Powder Puff game. Football players teach girls how to play football and cheerleaders teach the boys how to cheer.

The informational meetings started the first week of February. Sign-ups were in the Quad from January 19-22. The meeting for the juniors was on February 3 in P103. The meeting for seniors took place on Thursday February 4 in P103. The tryouts are on February 22-26 on the football field.

It is going to be the 3^rd Powder Puff game at SEHS. Only juniors and seniors will be participating in this activity.

If a student makes it into the Powder Puff there is a requirement to buy jerseys and t-shirts only sold at the student store. For the uniform the estimated price is $80. Jerseys must be purchased through the 3 weeks prior to the game. Cleats are required for practice. Each player is required to sell at least 3 tickets.

Another requirement to participate in the Powder Puff is to clear all detention hours before March 8. Ms Che, a teacher at SEHS, said, “A student that wants to participate must have good grades and good behavior”. If a student doesn’t have an exceptional grade average they would not be allowed to participate in the game. Ms. Che, said, “The required GPA to participate in the game is at least 2.0.Ms Che said,  “ all need to sign a waiver for insurance”.

The purpose of the Powder Puff game is for players and viewers to enjoy the game. After the game the senior and junior classes will split the money raised from ticket sales. Freshman and sophomores work at the entrance and aren’t left out. They get the profits they make selling snacks.

People normally sign-up for the Powder Puff because they’ve been waiting join a sport and most sports are already full. The Powder Puff season is back and more and more people are signing up, but only so many will make it. Ms. Che said, “Only about 35 girls and boys make it in each team.”   The Powder Puff game brings seniors and juniors together.

South East High School on the East Coast

A student and teacher from SEHS were recently featured in the New York Times. The article features a student and a smart phone application he created in a computer science class. According to Steve Lohr of the New York Times, John Landa, a TMUM Computer Science Teacher, said, “In the new class, students create projects that address subjects of their interest, like gang violence and recycling.” According to Lohr, Landa further states, “When the course first started there were only 35 students taking this course, but this year there are 130 students taking the course.” If the student is proficient in the course he/she may be introduced to an internship that could take place over the summer.

 

In the summer program, Mario Calleros and a partner built a smart phone application, linking pictures, text descriptions and GPS location data to explain the history, architecture and amenities of individual buildings on the UCLA campus as users walk by. This application was tested on the G1 (Google phone) and the HTC Android. The “app” is not available for purchase, but it is up to the employers [Center for Embedded Network Sensing] to decide what they will do with the “app.” In the future the application may become available to the public.

           

            Mario Calleros, the senior who built the application says “It’s exciting to be somewhat known” by making his own action game with a knights-in-armor motif, which was a side project that he worked on.

 

The Robles Winter Break

The Robles Winter Break
By Julian Izabal

Elizabeth Robles a senior at South East High School had this to say “winter break this year was different and unusual.”

This winter break was different for most people and many had new experiences. This year Elizabeth Robles spent Christmas at her sister’s house. Robles spent Christmas with her sister, brother in law, and a friend. Robles describes her Christmas as “depressing” because a distant family member had passed away two days earlier. She was still glad that she spent it with some of her family and friend. Robles describes her winter break “different and unusual” due to some experiences, that were new to her.

Texting in Class a Growing Problem

In a generation of technology and information, students have the ability to engage in constant communication with others at anytime of the day without making a phone call.

By Julian Izabal

There are many reasons for students to text during class. Some reasons might include students who help other students with their work. There is also a downside to texting because students may be just plain bored with the lesson or do not care about their grade. They might set up a place to meet with someone during class time, or just cheat on a test. Maria Gutierrez, a senior at South East High School, says, “Yes texting is a problem because students become distracted.” Gutierrez texts in class herself mainly “because I am bored” and talks about “random things, whatever pops into my head at the time.” Gutierrez believes “People do text in class but most likely for the same reasons as me.”

But how many people text in class? Ms. Perez, an art teacher at SEHS, believes, “about 30%” of her students text in her class. Of the 30% of students that text in her class she catches 15% and gives the phone to the Deans. Perez confiscates a phone if she sees a student using it, and believes “if I didn’t take away the phones they would do it more.” Once Perez has taken away the phone and gives it to the Deans it is the student’s responsibility to retrieve the phone. Perez believes the deans are “not consistent, because they give the phone back to some students and not to others. They should do the same to everybody.”

Danielle Rodriguez, a senior at SEHS, also believes “they [Deans] can be unfair sometimes, because they will take the phone away for an extended amount of time.” Even though Perez says “about 30% of student’s text in her class,” Rodriguez believes “the majority” of students text in class. Rodriguez said, “Texting in class is a distraction, because people pay more attention to their phone than the teacher.” The reason Rodriguez believes students text in class is because they are “bored, and they don’t care” about their education.

Stephanie Duran, a junior at SEHS, said “Yes I text in class sometimes to meet people somewhere.” Like many students Duran is responsible and does her work, but she also says “If a person is lazy then, yes, texting in class is a problem, but if the student is responsible then not at all.”

Some of the many reasons Duran might text in class are “To know what’s going on with people, sometimes to talk with my boyfriend, and sometimes to help people with their work.”

One problem Duran sees with the consequences of getting a phone taken away is that “If you have a lot of detentions” the student must serve them to get the phone back. Gutierrez believes, “Getting rid of all your detention hours to get your phone back is too much.”

Not all teachers take a phone away and give it to the Deans. Some have the student serve detention with them and then get the phone back. Fernando Grajeda, a senior at SEHS, had his phone taken away and had to stay an hour after school to get it back. Grajeda believes “it is fair, [to stay after school with a teacher and] better than getting it back from the Deans at the end of the year.”

To some students texting in class is not a problem if the student is responsible enough to get their work done.

Modern Warfare 2 Means New Game Craze

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 one of years most anticipated games.

 

            Activision and Infinity Ward gain massive reputation for their awesome games. According to developers at Infinity Ward wanted to stretch their creativity with an original, present-day game. The result, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare won numerous awards as 2007's best game and has sold more than 14 million units worldwide making Modern Warfare 2 one of the most anticipated games of the year.

Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer remains mostly the same as its predecessor titles at a basic level. The main activity in the multiplayer has not changed at all, but everything that surrounds the basic concepts of Modern Warfare has been modified and expanded to create intense, hardcore new levels.

One of the new changes is the selectable killstreak bonuses. For example, if the person could get three kills in a row before a person could call in UAV drones to give the players a better sense of where the enemies are currently located. People can also still call in airstrikes and helicopters. But now people can also call in supply drops, send up counter-UAVs that block enemy radar, send in a harrier jet that hovers above the battle and guns down the opposition, or even call in a Predator missile strike, which lets you control a missile as it drops from the sky.

Less successful elements from the original Modern Warfare have been modified or completely removed. Perks that had a lot of complaints in Call of Duty 4, like Martyrdom and Juggernaut, have been changed. For starters, Martyrdom is now a "deathstreak" bonus that if a person dies four times in a row without killing anyone, the persons’ next spawn will give them Martyrdom. This makes it rare, as opposed to COD4, where almost every player dropped a grenade every time they died. Juggernaut is gone completely, due to its complaints as being used as a “cheating way to last longer in game play,” says Antonio Palomera, a junior at South East High School.

Modern Warfare 2 does not have a co-op campaign mode but makes up for it in other ways. The campaign is around six to ten hours long. It also includes a level in Rio de Janeiro, a level in Siberia, a level on an oil tanker, and a stealth-based oil pipeline level where players will be undersea in scuba gear. Swimming will be a new gameplay mechanic (it might be a bit hard to do an underwater level without swimming, after all). Vehicles such as trucks, tanks, and helicopters will be featured and most are controllable.

The demo started on the level Cliffhanger, in which Captain Soap MacTavish and Sergeant Gary "Roach" Sanderson are somewhere in the Tian Shan Mountain range in extremely frigid conditions. The demo started off with Captain MacTavish and Roach climbing up the side of a mountain, but soon finding themselves blowing up a fuel depot and escaping from the base on snowmobiles while being chased by enemies. When people play the game this part of the demo is in the beginning of the game.

The majority of the people of the ages between 13 and 35p that were waiting for the Midnight release at the GameStop in South Gate had pre-ordered the game for the Playstation 3 and only few got the prestige version. This version includes collectible items such as night vision goggles but only for a higher price of $89.99 than the normal version, which normally costs $59.99. There are other places such as Fry’s Electronics, which sells the normal version for $55.99. Modern Warfare 2 has broken records for most sales in first few days of release.

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A farewell to summer

There are many ways to describe Elizabeth Robles, a junior at South East High School, but only a few tell you what she likes to do. One of the places she went to this summer was a lake, with her family and friends. There are two main things she did at the lake. One thing she did there was that she went bike riding in the mountains. The other thing was that her and her family had a small party by the lake; by the way this was on Labor Day weekend.