Refusal Parole: What will happen to the Menendez brothers now?

On August 21st and 22nd, Eric and Lyle Menendez were denied parole. The hopes of two brothers and their family, friends and supporters who worked on their behalf were shattered. As I learned from interviewing former youth offenders convicted of murder and other violent crimes for my upcoming book, Before their crime: What we misunderstood Childhood Trauma, young people crimeand the path to healingthe important question is, what are they doing now?

Until recently, when they were allowed to hear a Res judge and became eligible for parole, the brothers were hoping to spend their lives behind the bar. When you are a “life-man,” it can feel unimportant how you spend your days, whether you think a lot about your crimes and your victims. And when you’re imprisoned at a young age, your youth and immature decision makingas well as your perceived vulnerability, can facilitate the pressure to engage in illegal activities for older inmates. If you have used substances to deal with unruly emotions in the past, it is difficult to see why you should give up on them.

Response brings hope to an outside life that you think will forever be gone. People start thinking about the changes they need to make, so that the parole board decides it’s suitable for parole. Part of the equation is the use of matter, combat, or in fact abandonment of actions that are deemed unacceptable. Your actions over the length of incarceration will be reviewed with an eye to seeing the arcs towards improvement.

When the Menendez brothers applied for generosity, Governor Newsom ordered an assessment that is now part of their record, which proved to be a “moderate” risk to the community. There were several fights and drug use by Eric, but the big focus in the hearing was on repeating mobile phones over time. As in last year, both brothers were engaged in the use of smuggling mobile phones when they knew they might have a chance to resent. At the same time, both were engaged in activities that helped other inmates and the prison community.

The second factor in weight in a parole hearing is your insight into the circumstances of your crime and its harmful effects. You are expected to demonstrate the level of self-understanding, regret, and ability to be responsible for the crimes you commit and your actions in prison.

For people who have been involved in criminal activity and include most juvenile offenders, including the Menendez brothers, the path to accountability runs through healing from themselves trauma experience. When you stress Response systems have become dysregulated at an early age, and the constant hyper-arousal and attribution of risks that may not exist, or defensive paralysis and calmness to your own feelings and other people’s emotions, have played a role in dehumanizing your victims. When you can face your own pain, it will lead you to feel identification and empathy with the people you have hurt.

Most of the people I interviewed were denied parole at the first hearing, some being second or third. rejection It always felt like a crushing out and sometimes unfair outcome. Freedom and the outside world once again retreated, sometimes causing new violence and drug use. For many, the biggest challenge is turning this painful fork into further self-development and deeper accountability. Those who were eventually successful in being paroled at their next hearing had the opportunity to continue to grow, looking harshly at themselves.