Our criminal justice system is broken in many places, and strategic reforms should make the system fairer for all Philadelphians. The case of Commonwealth v. Marvin Roberts, however, does not implicate these issues. Roberts' alleged crime was no youthful indiscretion, or a case in which a youthful offender could not have fully comprehended or anticipated the result of his actions. On Sept. 7, Roberts was under Juvenile Court supervision for a prior robbery involving physical threats and charges of assault and reckless endangerment. Despite this second chance, he allegedly brought an illegal gun to our neighborhood, with the stated intention of committing another robbery. Then, he allegedly stepped up to Gerry for no reason and shot him twice in the head at point-blank range. The terrible crime was captured on video and audio, leaving no doubt in our minds that he murdered Gerry. We believe that the Juvenile Court process did not rehabilitate him – instead, he escalated from robbery to murder.