Why a 14-year-old boy was jailed for 14 years (5 photos)

The prosecutor demanded that this child be given 25 years in prison. The lawyer asked for an acquittal. The judge gave the guy the same number of years how old was he at the time. He won't go free again.





Chicago. July 29, 1960 13-year-old Harold Dallibozak wandered around the city. He did not attend school, did not intend to enter college. After the divorce, the parents simply forgot about him: the father married the second time, but Harold did not have a relationship with his stepmother, and his mother left from a family, joined the army and lived in Europe for a long time. teenager starved him, did not buy anything for him, did not pay for medical insurance.

One day the neighbors noticed that the father was beating his son severely and called the police. The sadist was sentenced to probation, but ... the child still left in the family.



On July 13, the boy was next to a private apple orchard, and next to played by three children - five-year-old Betsy, nine-year-old Dallas, seven-year-old Jessica Benham. They said that there were no owners of the garden, and therefore it was possible climb a tree and steal some fruit. The kids themselves have it lacked strength.

Harold climbed over the fence, climbed a tree and threw some apples for the kids. Then he went down and they began to share them. Big part Harold took for himself, and everything that was left was taken by Jessica and Dallas. The younger Betsy got nothing.



The brother and sister ran away, but the little girl stayed with Harold and She asked him for her share. Harold wanted to leave, but Betsy walked, and then ran after him, crying and demanding apples. At some point the teenager could not stand it, threw her to the ground and covered her mouth. Betsy tried fight, but Harold had absolutely no control over himself. The body of a five year old Betsy was found a couple of hours later. Her brother and sister told about the unknown the teenager and Harold were caught that evening. He didn't even come home where, however, no one was waiting for him, and also wandered the streets. Harold is here confessed to everything and the examination revealed his fingerprints on Betsy's clothes.

True, a little later, the teenager retracted his confession, stating that they were knocked out by force. He said he just pushed Betsy and left.



In December 1960, the trial began. By this time he already turned 14 years old. In modern Russia, criminal liability comes also from the age of 14 (and the maximum sentence is 10 years imprisonment), but at the time of the crime, Harold was still 13 years. In different states of the United States in different years, a minor could to sentence not only to life imprisonment, but even to death executions. The lawyer stressed that if the crime had taken place, then it happened by accident and the child who committed it is himself victim. Abandoned by parents who gave him nothing but grief turning him into a small wild wolf cub. Harold, said the lawyer, not a prison is needed, but the help of psychologists and a normal family.

The prosecution also led the line that the murder was premeditated. Harold did not want to share the booty and just got rid of the little annoyance who raised a cry. The final word was for the jury. They unanimously said that the defendant is guilty and does not deserve mercy. The judge reduced the sentence requested by the prosecutor (25 years) and Harold Dallibozaka went to state prison for 14 years.

All the days of the hearings the hall was full of people. The verdict of the audience and relatives of the participants in the process met with incredible noise: someone joyfully shouted that finally the killer was punished, and someone booed the judge and shouted "Shame!" because they were sure that Harold need treatment, not bunk beds.


In prison, Harold Dallibozak was never able to adapt: he was in conflict with adult cellmates, he was beaten several times and, as a result, a teenager isolated in a separate cell. It is possible that the boy was subjected abused more adults, since until about 1987 children and adults not shared in the colonies.

In September 1962, he hanged himself from a ceiling fan by making a rope out of a sheet.

Harold was 15 years old.