Peer Review

When Kids Get Life

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Reviewed:: Jun 27, 2011 by Criminal Justice

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: When Kids Get Life profiles the cases of five juveniles sentenced in Colorado to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The film explores whether juveniles should receive sentences that, in effect, end any possibility of life outside of prison. The film makes the point that the United States is one of the only countries in the world that allows persons under 18 to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. According to Human Rights Watch, over 2,200 of the inmates in the United States who are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole received those sentences for crimes they committed when they were under 18 years old. By contrast, according to self-reporting numbers from the rest of the world, only 12 people serving the same sentence were sentenced as juveniles.
Type of Material:: This website provides learning through case study by studying the issues of the five juveniles presented. It also provides reference material through its reading material and additional inks for further study.
Recommended Uses:: This website could be used either in-class or as an outside of class assignment. It would be best when used as a combination of lecture and in - class or team discussion. (Note: For some student populations some scenes in the film might be disturbing to students)
Technical Requirements:: This web site worked fine with Mozilla Firefox. Java or Flash is required to watch the actual program.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: Learn about juvenile justice Learn about punishment and social justice Goals of Punishment
Target Student Population:: Use in undergraduate criminal justice classes such as Criminal Justice, Sociology, Criminology, Social Work
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: Basic Computer Skills Introduction to Criminal Justice or similar course

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: The Internet site is complete with material that is easy to understand while navigating the site is simple that supports the Frontline video of the same name (portions of the video are available in segments on the Internet site). The site offers a variety of material including the profiles of five inmates in Colorado who were sentenced to life after being charged as adults while they were juveniles, interview with legal experts including a former district attorney from Denver, information on states and whether juveniles can be sentenced to life, readings and Internet links, online discussions, a brief interview with the producer of the video, a teacher's guide that supports the use of the video and Internet material to high school students, DVD and transcript information, and much more. The material presented on the Internet site is accurate but a few years out-of-date.
Concerns:: Some of the material presented on the Internet site is dated and there is no mention of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision (Graham v. Florida, 2010) or the changes in Colorado laws that limit sentencing of juveniles to a maximum number of years based upon the crime (Colorado changed its sentencing structure in 2006 for teens convicted of the most serious criminal offenses, making them eligible for parole after 40 years in prison but that legislation didn't affect those already serving life sentences while new efforts are being made to make the 2006 law retroactive).

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

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Strengths:: The Teacher's Guide does an excellent job at bringing the topic and the material presented in the video (available online) and the Internet material into useful material for in-class presentations, group activities, and homework. The material presented on the Internet is comprehensive and offers a variety of perspectives that allow students to decide for themselves what their views are pertaining to juveniles being sentenced to life in prison.
Concerns:: Concerns here are minor. Students should be provided a foundation in which to put these concepts into perspective as well as help to show relationships between ideas.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

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Strengths:: The material including video segments, print material, and resources and Internet links are all easy to access, are presented in a clear and easy-to-understand manner, and are engaging.
Concerns:: None.

Other Issues and Comments:: As mentioned earlier, it is very important that updates to the site be made that include recent court decisions and state law changes in Colorado so that the material be well balanced and comprehensive. There are some updated through 2009 including mention of changes to Colorado laws but the updates need to be more comprehensive and include specific reference to or links to updated material. This is a quality site and an excellent adjunct to teaching this topic or related topics. I have used this in class and have had good feedback from students and found it to be a useful teaching tool. I will certainly use this again.
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