One of the bigger news articles today concerned Jordan Brown, a 12-year-old from Pennsylvania, who shot and killed his father's pregnant fiance.
Brown is now facing life in prison, as prosecutors plan to try him as an adult. If this happens, he will be the youngest person in America serving out this sentence.
I was appalled watching the video of the prosecutor and some of the victim's acquaintances saying that the boy's actions are that of an eighteen-year-old's.
First of all, murder is not the action of any age. To say that when someone commits an murder, they are automatically an adult is to completely overlook the reason we have juvenile courts. We recognize that when someone under the age of eighteen commits a crime, it is not the same as when an adult commits a crime.
Now, I can see there being some room for argument here when talking about sixteen or seventeen-year-olds, but this isn't even a teenager we're talking about, it's a twelve-year-old.
Part of me just wants to keep saying that over and over again--
IT'S A TWELVE-YEAR-OLD.
Obviously the boy needs severe psychological treatment, but is everyone prosecuting this childless? Are they unaware that children can make rash, and yes, sometimes fatal decisions simply because they are not yet in charge of their emotions?
I don't even believe sentencing should be a legal matter. The judge should defer to what people who actually have backgrounds in child psychology feel should happen to the child. They've already determined that he does not show signs of being a sociopath, and he has no history of violence. That means something else was going on here.
To me, this is a case of a blood-thirsty culture. It used to be that when a crime happened, we wanted someone to blame. I think we've moved onto the next level. We not only want someone to blame, but now we want blood once we have them.
This is a horrible tragedy, and I certainly feel sympathy for the victim, but clearly there must have been something more going on here, and I don't see why everyone is talking about throwing this kid in a prison cell for the rest of his life and not asking how something like this could have happened in the first place.
Brown is now facing life in prison, as prosecutors plan to try him as an adult. If this happens, he will be the youngest person in America serving out this sentence.
I was appalled watching the video of the prosecutor and some of the victim's acquaintances saying that the boy's actions are that of an eighteen-year-old's.
First of all, murder is not the action of any age. To say that when someone commits an murder, they are automatically an adult is to completely overlook the reason we have juvenile courts. We recognize that when someone under the age of eighteen commits a crime, it is not the same as when an adult commits a crime.
Now, I can see there being some room for argument here when talking about sixteen or seventeen-year-olds, but this isn't even a teenager we're talking about, it's a twelve-year-old.
Part of me just wants to keep saying that over and over again--
IT'S A TWELVE-YEAR-OLD.
Obviously the boy needs severe psychological treatment, but is everyone prosecuting this childless? Are they unaware that children can make rash, and yes, sometimes fatal decisions simply because they are not yet in charge of their emotions?
I don't even believe sentencing should be a legal matter. The judge should defer to what people who actually have backgrounds in child psychology feel should happen to the child. They've already determined that he does not show signs of being a sociopath, and he has no history of violence. That means something else was going on here.
To me, this is a case of a blood-thirsty culture. It used to be that when a crime happened, we wanted someone to blame. I think we've moved onto the next level. We not only want someone to blame, but now we want blood once we have them.
This is a horrible tragedy, and I certainly feel sympathy for the victim, but clearly there must have been something more going on here, and I don't see why everyone is talking about throwing this kid in a prison cell for the rest of his life and not asking how something like this could have happened in the first place.
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