Note: what follows is a transcript of the conversation. While efforts have been made towards thoroughness and accuracy, some errors or omissions may exist.
For KLCC News, I’m Love Cross.
Kip Kinkel is a name that triggers many people across Springfield and Eugene. In May 1998, the then 15-year-old Thurston High School student murdered his parents, two classmates, and wounded 25 others in the school cafeteria with a number of firearms. He was sentenced to 112 years in prison, and is currently at the Oregon State Correctional Institution.
For years, Kinkel has not granted media interviews. But Saturday, a new article by HuffPost reveals that the now 38-year-old inmate has broken that silence. Joining me now is KLCC’s Brian Bull, who’s reported on Kinkel and the Thurston School Shooting. Hi, Brian.
Bull: Hi, Love. How are you?
Cross: I'm doing well. So Brian, why has Kinkel kept quiet all these years? And what changed his mind?
Bull: The details of Kinkel’s life since his sentencing has been a media obsession for some time. Countless requests from news organizations – including KLCC – have gone unanswered through the decades. Friends and associates have said Kinkel didn’t want to make victims of his actions relive the tragedy. But what this HuffPost article by reporter Jessica Schulberg reveals, is that while Kinkel says he has felt ‘tremendous shame and guilt’ for his actions in May 1998, and that he takes responsibility for the harm he caused as a 15 year-old, he – and I quote – also has responsibility for the harm that I am causing now as I’m 38 because of what I did at 15.”
Cross: Meaning what, exactly?
Bull: Meaning as juvenile justice advocates make the case for reforming sentencing guidelines for youth, Kinkel’s past has been used to challenge those efforts. On one side of the debate, are people citing research that shows the adolescent brain is still developing, and not functioning to the same capacity as a fully developed, adult brain. So impulse control, understanding repercussions and consequences, are not at 100 percent. This has been used to convince courts to roll back sentences, and in the instance of the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012, the justices deemed that for offenders under 18, mandatory life sentences without parole violated the Eighth Amendment, which is freedom from cruel and unusual punishment.
Cross: And on the flip side, are more hard-line prosecutors and judges, who feel that it’s the seriousness of the crime determines the sentence, I’m sure.
Bull: Yes, and in fact, this April the U.S. Supreme Court – after receiving a makeover through President Trump’s nominations of three conservative justices – essentially reversed course. A ruling in a case against a Mississippi man convicted of killing his grandfather when he was 15 has now made it easier for states to impose sentences of life in prison without parole on juvenile offenders. In the previous decade up until this ruling, there had been more leniency extended to such offenders.
Cross: And this also happened here in Oregon, I understand, with Senate Bill 1008. That law is intended to alleviate juvenile sentencing.
Bull: Opponents of the legislation used Kinkel’s in ads and talk shows, though it still passed. Senate Bill 1008 eliminates sentences of life without parole for minors, makes it more difficult to prosecute youth as adults, and for those demonstrating rehabilitative progress, provides early-release opportunities. And as the HuffPost article relates, tough-on-crime pundits and lawmakers alike framed it was a bill that would set Kinkel free. Kinkel told HuffPost hat his name was being used to punish other juvenile offenders, who were trying to reform and create new opportunities beyond the prison walls. The bill was later amended to essentially exclude people who were sentenced before its passage, like Kinkel.
Cross: Are there other interesting parts to the HuffPost story about Kinkel that we didn’t know about?
Bull: There’s an interesting passage about how Kinkel’s psychologist at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility wanted his transition to an adult prison to go well. Given Kinkel’s infamy and profile, it was feared that prison gang members would attack him for prestige points among their peers. So this psychologist recruited two inmates to help Kinkel acclimate to his new surroundings, and how to react if challenged or provoked by others.
Cross: And some information builds on the reporting you did for KLCC’s documentary on the 20th anniversary of the Thurston School Shooting, back in 2018.
Bull: Yes. There’s more about his efforts to become “more centered” as a friend puts it, through education, working as an electrician for the prison, becoming a certified yoga instructor, and paying it forward for other inmates transitioning from juvenile corrections to adult prison. If Kinkel is destined to spend the rest of his life behind bars, he’s tried to make it work for him and other offenders who committed serious crimes while young.
Cross: Brian, thank you for your time.
Bull: Thank you, Love.
Cross: KLCC’s Brian Bull, on convicted school shooter Kip Kinkel. Now 38, Kinkel has spoken out about his actions, juvenile justice reform, and life behind bars in a HuffPost article released this weekend. For KLCC News, I’m Love Cross.
Copyright 2021, KLCC.
