Woman Who Was Once the Youngest Person on Death Row is Found Dead

[Recursion]

Source: Jezebel

Indiana authorities found Paula Cooper—who was once the country’s youngest person on death row—dead of an apparent suicide. Cooper was only 15 years old in 1986 when she confessed to murdering a 78-year-old woman named Ruth Pelke by stabbing her 33 times with a butcher knife. Two years after Cooper received the death penalty, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that those under 16 at the time of the act could not be sentenced to death. Cooper’s sentence was changed to serving a prison term of 60 years.

Pelke’s grandson, Bill Pelke, was opposed to the death penalty and runs an organization called Journey of Hope which supports death penalty alternatives. He believed that his grandmother would not have wanted Cooper on death row, reports AP. Pelke visited Cooper while she was in prison and assumed he would hear from her in June, when she was going to be released from parole. “I have no idea what was going on in her life. I thought she was doing well from everything I had heard,” he said. “I had hoped she would travel with us. She had always told me she wanted to help young people to avoid the pitfalls that she had fallen into. She said she knew she had done something terrible to society and she wanted to give back.”

Due to good behavior, Cooper’s sentence was reduced and she was released in June 2013, after spending 28 years in jail. She had also earned a bachelor’s degree during her time in prison. Cooper was found outside of a residence in Indianapolis and had died of what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Read more: http://jezebel.com/woman-who-was-once-the-youngest-person-on-death-row-is-1707350459

[jtuck004]

1. 15 when she went in, 28 years in prison, and then "You are free, good luck".

And then released as a felon into a society which has millions more people move into poverty or near poverty just in the past few years, and we are graduating millions more into a job market that will never employ them at anything but a menial and low-skilled job.

She had no realistic chance. Maybe there will be someone elected some day that can do something more than make excuses.

[progressoid]

2. Yep,

Have to wonder if the idea of her life after release may have precipitated the suicide.

[cstanleytech]

3. I can totally. sympathize with her as I to look at my life and future prospects

or lack there of and find myself wanting to just end it all because the outlook sucks ass, hopefully she has found her peace now.

[samsingh]

4. how do you sympathize with a murderer?

[cstanleytech]

5. I can sympathize with another human over alot of things because I have a thing called empathy

though clearly not everyone has that ability, in this case I am sympathetic to them probably having a bleak opinion for their future.

[samsingh]

8. i have empathy for the victim and familes - not for ther murderer

[geek tragedy]

6. the priority was keeping this out of control violent murderer away

from the rest of society.

It's good that eventually she stopped being so incredibly and viciously violent that she wasn't a threat to the community.

She was a victim of her own evil behavior.

[workinclasszero]

7. "She was a victim of her own evil behavior."

Yup. She seemed to have a knack for killing. Including herself.

[samsingh]

9. kick

[FLPanhandle]

10. Why was she ever released in the first place?

I can understand no death penalty, but she should have gotten life without parole.

From death penalty to out on the street?

[happyslug]

13. You want to spend $30,000 a year to keep someone in Jail who will NOT commit another crime?

The lowest rate to returning to jail after serving time are Murders, most are beyond the age that people tend to do crime (i.e. males under age 30).

http://www.thecrimereport.org/news/inside-criminal-justice/2012-02-the-high-cost-of-prisons-using-scarce-resources-wise

In Australia is cost $292 a day to keep someone in jail or $106,580 Australia Dollars per year:

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/02/02/how-much-does-it-cost-keep-people-australian-jails

Britain says it cost £65,000 to imprison someone and £42,000 per year to keep them there:

http://www.fpe.org.uk/the-cost-of-prisons/

In the case of Prisoners sentence to death the cost to execute them is cheap, about $83.00, but the cost of the trial, appeals etc are four to ten times what it costs in a non death penalty case:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2014/05/01/considering-the-death-penalty-your-tax-dollars-at-work/

Now Indiana has low cost per prisoner, $14,000 per inmate per year.

https://smartasset.com/insights/the-economics-of-the-american-prison-system

Now, that does NOT include the cost of any medical care. 15 plus 28 equal 43 years of age, thus she is beyond the age when recidivism is great (i.e under 30). She is nearing age 50 when medical costs starts to kick in, and the state must pay such care 100% if she is in prison, but if she is out of prison and on Medicaid or Medicare (once she is over 65) the amount the state pays is reduced (in the Case of Medicaid, is she is on welfare, the state must pay 50%, is she end up on SSI, the Federal Government pays 100%, if she ends up on Medicare, the Federal Government will pay 80%, but in that case the state will NOT have to pay the 20%).

It is a lot cheaper for the state to release such murders, for the possibility of them murdering again is slim. No one is saying she should NOT be on parole, thus such murderers tend to be watched the rest of their lives, but at a much reduced costs to the state (if they violate they Parole, they go back to prison, another reason for them to NOT commit any crimes).

Sorry, Life without Parole, sounds good, but costs a lot of money for something of marginal real value. Yes, there are people who should never see the light outside of Prison, but such people (Like Charles Manson) will NEVER see life outside of Prison but people like him are the EXCEPTION not the rule.

Side note: Charles Manson is in Prison for life, NOT Life without Parole, just Life. Manson has been up for parole several times and have been refused every time for he is still a danger to society. Another murder, sentence to life, NOT life without parole, who NEVER should (and did not, he died in 1991) be Parole was Richard Speck. In prison he was a "Model Prisoner" in that he never cause trouble for the guards, but exploited prison life for his advantages not to prepare to live outside of prison:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Manson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Speck

On the other hand, why is Sirhan Sirhan (The murderer of Robert Kennedy) still is in jail at the age of 71? At his parole hearings he says he does not remember what happened on that day in 1968 and for the reason he is constantly denied parole on the grounds his refusing to say he remembers what happened that day is a refused to accept his guilt. The chances of him ever killing someone else is slim to none, Why are California Tax Dollars being spent to keep him in Prison. He has been in Prison 47 years. Has been a Model Prisoner (unlike Manson or Speck).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirhan_Sirhan

Most Murderers are like Sirhan Sirhan not Manson or Speck, thus keeping them in Prison till they die is just a waste of tax payers money. We have severe prison over crowding problem, mostly do to long sentences for crimes. We have to leave out of prison those people who are least likely to commit another crime. Murders who have served 20-30 years fit that bill.

We need to keep taxes low and wasting tax money on prisons is NOT a way to keep taxes low.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Quite the opportunity for death penalty fans to whoop it up,

learning this woman who murdered in her teen years, finally killed herself.

They "sympathize" with the victims and relatives, unless those people find the death penalty as morally abhorrent in every way.

Then they undoubtedly despise them, too.

[CBHagman]

12. The news coverage I've seen thus far is only general...

...and does not provide any sort of in-depth reporting on what happened. So I would withhold any conclusions about what happened to Ms. Cooper.

I do recall the case and the descriptions of the crime itself, and also remember an on-camera interview (by 60 Minutes, if I recall correctly) with Ms. Cooper, who was still a teen at the time and quite fearful of dying.

When I heard that she was reported as a suicide, my first reaction was "What a waste."

All that said, I think it's best not to draw any conclusions until we know for certain, and we may never know for certain.

Also, I think it's pretty disturbing to see people drawing downright global conclusions about life and policy from this one case. It was a heinous crime, no question about it, and all the more disturbing because young people committed it, and it's sad that this story ends the way it does.