Greg Ousley's Childhood

Teenagers have a reputation to be irrational, emotionally unstable, and chaotic. Most of the time, teenagers commit actions without considering the repercussions. They may do drugs, sell drugs or even shoplift. However, should teenagers be tried as adults when they commit a heinous crime? In Scott Anderson’s article “ Greg Ousley Is Sorry for Killing His Parents. Is That Enough?”, Anderson discusses about the story of a young man named Greg Ousley who was tried as an adult in his teenager years. Greg Ousley, now in his thirties, is serving sixty years for a crime that he committed at the age of fourteen. At that age, Greg managed to brutally murder his parents with a shotgun. The fact that Greg is sorry for the murder of his parents does not
During the teenage years, the teenage brain loses brain tissue in areas that control thoughts, actions, and emotions. This explains the unreasonable thoughts and actions that occur within the teenage years. With that in mind, Greg’s household environment had changed during his teenage years after his siblings had moved out. When Greg was the only child left in the household, he became “ the central focus of the parents’ abuse and or attention” (Anderson 34). Greg became the victim of his mother’s rages and “ convinced that his father’s remoteness was less a sign of disinterest in him than outright disgust” (Anderson 43), The young teenager believed that his father was disgusted of his physical appearance and lack of athletic ability. In addition, Greg saw his family life deteriorate after he caught his mother cheat on his father. His relationship with his mother had gone to blackmailing. In only seven months as the only child in the house, Greg told his friends that he will kill his parents. Eventually, Greg developed the process of ideation or by which a disturbed individual moves from despair toward a plan of action. At a young age, these events that Greg had experienced are psychologically damaging and explains Greg’s motives to killing his
If Greg had been remanded into Indiana’s juvenile justice system, he would have received psychological therapy to help him cope with his actions and correct his course in the future. However, Greg had managed to understand his actions and follow the right path in Indiana’s adult system where the only psychological help inmates received was how to cope with his or her incarceration. Behind bars, he attained a “ bachelor’s degree in liberal arts through Indiana State University’s correspondence program,”(Anderson 19) and graduated magna cum laude. In addition, he plans to tell children his story and to use it as an example when he is released. Greg earned the respect of his casework manager and the prison superintendent.One of Greg’s old supervisors stated that “ [Greg] has jumped through every hoop the state has put in front of him… He deserves to come out There’s absolutely nothing to be gained by keeping him in there for another 10 years” (Anderson 24”. His intentions are clearly for the better and has come to an understanding to why he had murdered his