putting a child of 13 in prison is insane! there were two victims in this case.

He was a troubled boy who lashed out in the most horrible way , now days children who are bullied kill others or themselves , where is help for them ?? Not at school , not a damn thing is done about it , yes I blame society and their stupid rules , do something about bullying!!!! Kids were allowed to make fun of and allowed to mistreat him . This boy needed help not prison . He was 13 - 13 !!!! He has served enough time , worse have gotten out and they are older ! Saying if he gets out you believe he will do it again ????? Are you crazy ???? This is not the 13 year old who murdered a precious little boy , hesa man now , rehabilitated , let him free

As i am a supporter for Eric Smiths Petition I would like everyone to know that being treated as inferior to every other human being is by far the worst feeling ever to experience because know other human knows how it felt to be in the same position as Eric but that doesn't excuse him for the Treacherous deed that he had committed however we should all come to terms that he is no longer the monster that everyone believes he is and is finally ready to be accepted to being a changed person and should be given the right to his freedom and should surly be granted mercy upon his soul .

there's mistakes then there's murder.....significant difference there....

and if he isn't ready for parole then he shouldn't be paroled.

not sure how much worse than that it gets

I agree Eric Smith's deck was stacked against him. I've also watched an interview he held as an adult where he became belligerent with the interviewer saying "I don't care!" Smith tortured and killed animals. He committed arson. Is it possible to rehabilitate a psychopath?

We all very much know that there are others who have done far worse then anything Eric Smith could have committed and although he had very little remorse for the Robie family I do not believe that he is not sorry for what he had did to both his parents his little brother and most of all Derek himself and if he could go back in time and reverse his reckless actions im so sure he would do anything but he cannot fix the past but make rather make amends in the present all Eric Smith asks is to live the remaining life he has left and support those who have went through or going through similar experiences in life but we all forgetting that all humans make terrible mistakes in life and the truth is life is both nothing but a battle in trying to be accepted for who you are and not what you were before and I truly think that he should be given a chance and I doubt that he would risk his chances of freedom after spending more then a decade in prison