This Boy's Life

"And when the thing goes down it's his fault, wasn't my fault. See what I'm saying?...See, 'cause he small, he take the, ah, what you call it? The risk."

For Beckius at fourteen, the gang had represented family, the one thing he could depend on. He had admired Charlie Pa for his toughness and independence. "They were doing everything on their own," he remembers. "They could do what they wanted."

Life in the best lane: On February 17, Jim Lambert had his friends on pins and needles.

Dayton James died at the Basemar Cinema Savers on April 27, 1993.

Related Content

• A Colorado teen sentenced to forty years gets a second chance
  October 27, 2011
• Letters: Readers have little sympathy for Josh Beckius
  November 3, 2011
• Josh Beckius was sentenced to prison at sixteen -- but sixteen years later, he has a second chance
  October 26, 2011
• Juvenile lifers targeted for rape, excessive isolation in adult prisons
  January 4, 2012
• Reader: We understand that "illegal" means breaking the laws of the United States
  October 27, 2011

More About

• Patrick Furman
• Joshua Beckius
• Josh Beckius
• Prisons
• Criminal Sentencing and Punishment

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Weekly Newsletter: Our weekly feature stories, movie reviews, calendar picks and more - minus the newsprint and sent directly to your inbox.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

These days, Beckius sees the gang differently. It's hard to change while you're in prison, he says, but he's trying: "Now I've experienced all the bad, I can experience all the good."

His strongest desire is to get out and have a family of his own. "I would be like my dad, except I'd want to be able to talk to my kid more and have my kid open up to me," he says. "My dad did things the best way he knew how. He tried to be strict; he tried to set limits and I guess, from what I remember -- I guess I overlooked them."