Should Brenda Spencer Be Let on Parole?

Brenda Spencer

“Holding on to anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die” (Buddha). On January 29, 1979, in San Diego,16 year old Brenda Spencer, shot and killed staff and students at Cleveland Elementary School from her house across the road. She killed two people (Burton Wragg and Mike Suchar) and injured eight other children. Brenda was given a sentence of 25 years to life. She spent the rest of her childhood in California state institution for women where she has remained for the last thirty odd years. She applied for parole in 2009 but was denied and can't apply again until 2019. Brenda is 55 years old as of 2017. How long is long enough to pay for a teenage misjudgement?

Brenda was merely 16 years old at the time of the shooting. Since then recent studies have shown that the human brain isn't fully developed until 25, in fact, research has shown that an adult and a 16 year old's brain work differently. Adults make decisions with the prefrontal cortex. This is the part of the brain that has good judgment and an awareness of long-term consequences. Teenagers process information with the amygdala. This is the emotional part. On a physical level Brenda was still a child and was incapable of making a rational, mature decision. To judge her actions as of those of an adults is a complete miscarriage of justice.

‘The silicon chip inside her head, gets switched to overload.’ Brenda Spencer lived with her father after her parents got divorced. It would be an understatement to say it was no ordinary relationship. Not many 16 year old girls sleep in the same bed as their father. She had been depressed for quite some time, but her father refused the doctor’s advice to send her to a psychiatric facility. Brenda stated that at the time what she had wanted was a new radio for Christmas, instead her father gave her a gun. Brenda had previously gotten into trouble for shooting her BB gun out her window. Now she had a real gun. Not only Brenda's father ignore his own daughters mental health despite the doctor’s advice, but he gave his depressed, suicidal daughter her very own .22 semi automatic rifle with a telescopic scope. Brenda was seriously mentally unwell at the time of the shooting and shows obvious remorse now, stating that she had no right to take those people's lives and she even feels partially responsible for all school shootings after hers.

Some may insist that the crimes she committed are unforgivable, that she deserves to spend the rest of her life rotting behind bars. The families of those who were killed and injured had their worlds rocked by Brenda on that Monday morning and I'm not trying to excuse her of any of the crimes she did. But if you're going to deprive a woman of a life worth living because of a mistake that she made when she was a child even though she clearly shows signs of deep