my poor decision making being a teenager testimony by : Frederick Herrington
How many people when they were young said , “ When I get older , I want to be a prisoner .” I believe that no one said that at a young age . Most youth said , “ They want to be a policeman , fireman , doctor , singer , scientist , or some type of sports figure .” Most men in prison didn ’ t say , “ When I grow up , I want to be an inmate .”
I believe the little things I thought were fun when I was younger , opened up the door for greater trouble . As a young person , I was very curious about life . My friends and I used to get into a lot of trouble , but we thought it was fun at first .
When I was young , my friends and I used to ride around in stolen cars for joy rides . My friends kept on stealing cars , because they got away with it . Well that day came when they got caught by the police . They had to spend days locked up in youth jail . Who wants to be locked up like an animal ? Animals don ’ t even like being locked up , so what fun is it being locked in a jail cell ? My friends ’ parents couldn ’ t get them out of those youth jails . They had to stay in there until their time was up with their sentence .
I also remember how my friends and I used to shoot each other with BB guns . Again , not the smartest thing . We could have hurt each other . We played with a lot of other guns after those experiences . We didn ’ t really see guns as being harmful . One day , my friends came and picked me up to hang out . Well my friend had gotten into a fight with another guy earlier that day . Now , I was with him and his younger brother hanging out . I left them for a moment to go to the bathroom . When I came back I heard a lot of gun shots . I looked down the street , and I saw a girl dragging a body by the arms out of the street . Then I heard that one of my friends had shot that person . That guy died on the street . It was a senseless murder which shouldn ’ t have happened .
My friend was 17-years-old along with his younger brother who was 15-years-old . Both sentenced to life in prison . My friend ’ s younger brother was charged as a party to the crime , even though he didn ’ t shoot the person . He was still there . He was standing by his brother at the time of the shooting . A person ’ s life was lost and my two friends ’ lives were taken from me because of their life sentences in prison . My friends didn ’ t think about the consequences to their actions and how it would impact the rest of their lives .
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