NCJ Number
166075
Date Published
1995
Length
9 pages
Annotation
The mother of a 16-year-old who was murdered writes of her feelings toward the murderer.
Abstract
Elysia had a learning disability and lived in a dysfunctional home in her early years. However, at age 16 she had a full-time job and was on the honor roll at school. When her mother first learned of her death, she and the chaplain prayed for the youths who had committed the crime. She feels no sense of hatred. Instead, she feels sick that Allen Fest had such emotional poverty in his life that he needed to gain recognition that way. She believes that the children who become murderers and sociopaths did not receive love or care and that they cannot feel either for themselves or for others. She believes that these youths need to be incarcerated. She wants her daughter's murderers to go to prison and to have a spiritual experience while they are there. She believes that many kinds of efforts can make a difference in preventing crime and that people need to know that they can make a difference. She has also been to the juvenile court many times in connection with her daughter's case and believes that the juvenile justice system urgently needs reform, because juveniles who commit murder need to be in prison.