Tonight on PBS... Wait, Don't Turn The Channel Yet, Hear Me Out...

Okay, I actually like the idea of PBS even though I only usually watch it for Great Performances and the House shows (Manor House, Pioneer House etc), but tonight on Frontline (9pm-10:30pm though check local listings), there seems to be an interesting documentary When Kids Get Life that follows children under 18 who are sentenced to life without parole.

They follow five cases, including this one that got be interested in this show in the first place:

"JACOB IND - The crime scene was gruesome. In December of 1992, 15-year-old Jacob Ind murdered his mother and stepfather. The troubled family life that led to such a heinous crime slowly unfolded over the course of his trial. Jacob's defense claimed that he had endured years of sexual abuse at the hands of his stepfather, who repeatedly raped him and his brother. But prosecutors argued that what happened at home was exaggerated as an excuse to kill. Jacob is now 29. "All I wanted was something to end," he says. "I didn't really grasp the permanency of their deaths. I definitely didn't understand the gravity of what it means to kill somebody." But the law for first-degree murder does not allow exceptions, regardless of age. Judge Jane Looney declared at sentencing that her "hands were tied": She was required by law to sentence Jacob to life without parole."

Heavy stuff but deeply fascinating and my opinions are always torn on these issues. I mean, I'll still be watching Veronica Mars first but I'll record it for later viewing.