EDITORIAL YOUNG JUSTICE MAKING THE PUNISHMENT FIT THE CRIMINAL.

THE image of 14-year Lionel Tate, a tear streaming down his face after being sentenced to a life in prison, has elicited a wave of sympathy nationwide.

The prospect of a boy losing all hope and promise for his future at such a young age is horrific.

And yet Tate is getting off easy compared with little Tiffany Eunick, the 6-year-old girl he brutally beat to death in Florida in 1999.

While Americans have been bombarded with the image of Tate's sentencing, we have been spared a look at the ghastly autopsy pictures depicting more than 30 injuries on Tiffany's little body. Those injuries include a fractured skull and rib, a torn liver, bruises to her head, face and kidneys.

Those pictures convinced a jury and a judge that Tiffany's death was no accident - it was a homicide.

So what does society do with the likes of Lionel Tate? To deny him his future seems medieval. To do any less seems like a miscarriage of justice.

We begin by recognizing that there is no perfect penalty that can balance all the competing values of compassion, justice and protecting public safety.

Likewise, there are no happy resolutions to grisly child murders.

Tough as it might seem, the jury's verdict was probably the best one it could deliver under Florida law, which calls for life without parole for those found guilty of felony murder with an underlying cause of aggravated child abuse.

The thought of confining a boy to life behind bars for a crime he committed when he was 12 is unacceptable to many, while the alternative - letting a convicted killer prey on another helpless victim - is unthinkable.

It was a heartbreaking crime and the choice is heart-wrenching.

We can only hope that, faced with the harsh consequences of his actions, Tate will show remorse, change his ways and rehabilitate himself.

Should that day ever come, Florida's governor could commute his sentence and give him a fresh start.

But it must begin with Tate accepting responsibility for his actions. If he was old enough to kill without mercy, he is also old enough to come to terms with the moral gravity of his crimes.

So far, the adults in his life have all tried to keep him from accepting that responsibility. His lawyer blames Tiffany's death on the influence of pro wrestling. His mother insists it was an accident.

Maybe spending some time away from these influences and alone with his thoughts will help Tate realize he alone is responsible for his actions - and his fate.