Letters to the Editor: Brandon Spencer didn’t deserve a 40-year sentence — not in 2014, and not now

To the editor: I was very opposed to the excessive sentencing in 2014 of then-21-year-old Brandon Spencer to 40 years in prison and wrote to The Times expressing my opinion, saying that his young brain had not fully developed and he deserved leniency. (“Years ago, I applauded the 40-year sentence for a shooter at a party. Now I’m rethinking things,” Opinion, Feb. 19)

Well, now columnist Sandy Banks, who excoriated Spencer in 2014, agrees with me. She should have used her platform to help Spencer then, but perhaps her change of heart will support not only her healing, but also will get this young man out of prison and into school, where he should have been sent in the first place.

I hope Spencer receives the therapy and schooling he’ll need to move on with his life.

Pauline Merry, Garden Grove

..

To the editor: The concern used to be about what harm the criminal justice system could do to innocent people. Now, with reformer district attorneys like Los Angeles County’s George Gascón, the concern is about what harm the criminal justice system could do to guilty people.

Look at the defendant in this article. He was convicted of shooting into a crowd and wounding four people in 2011, when he was 19 years old, and was sentenced to 40 years. Banks’ column argues that the criminal justice system is harmful to defendants, but the 40-year sentence is somewhat overplayed, because after serving eight years, Spencer is now eligible for a parole hearing.

This means he may be out of prison 32 years before his sentence is up.

Bill Gravlin, Rancho Palos Verdes

..

To the editor: Banks says it all near the end of her column: “I have been reminded of something too: how inadequate the criminal justice system is for dealing with what are, at their heart, social issues.”

This is indicative of a society that believes in punishment, not prevention. Social programs that help youth have been cut drastically over the last 30 years as well as budgets for social workers, who are supposed to help the families but are deluged with hundreds of cases.

I am sick to death of reading about locking kids up instead of helping them.

Eileen Flaxman, Claremont