Prosecuting children as adults

[TarotDragon]

Okay, so I was watching CNN the other night and there was a story on there about how a fourteen year old boy shot another of the same age, killing him. The law wants to prosecute the teenager as an adult. But is it right?

One part of me thinks "hell yeah! By that age you should know the difference between right and wrong, especially to that magnitude".

But the other says "no. This boy is just that, a boy. How could he possibly understand what he's doing. How?"

Delving a little deeper into that, I watch a lot of shows with my grandmother about murders. A lot of them are done by young kids. Some you can see aren't remorseful, just whatever. But then you'll see one, one that truly understands what he's done and is horrified. He asks "why? Why did I end that life? It was wrong and I've screwed myself up so bad in doing it. Killing that guy didn't just hurt his family, it hurt mine. Two people died that day I pulled the trigger. And I didn't know what I was doing. I got into that too young, didn't know what I was doing."

So do you think you're old enough to understand what you're doing at that age? Is it right to prosecute teenagers as adults?

[soulatom]

A wiseman standing over my shoulder read this and said "Are you ever old enough to understand this?"

[Trivium515]

I can't imagine anyone doing something like that unless their soul is in terrible pain. so maybe the answer is not to punish them, but to try and help them. Though if it had of been someone I knew and loved, I can't say I wouldn't want the one who took them away to be punished... but maybe the sheer guilt would be enough. It's an incredibly tough one.

[TarotDragon]

soulatom said:

A wiseman standing over my shoulder read this and said "Are you ever old enough to understand this?"

Yeah, I guess that's so.

quicksilver said:

so maybe the answer is not to punish them, but to try and help them.

but maybe the sheer guilt would be enough.

My thoughts exactly. Some of them, you can see don't get it. Don't... feel the wrongness of it. But then there's those few that you see get it. They just know and there's just an overwhelming feeling of compassion. Of, "oh god, he didn't mean it. Let him out because he won't do this again and he'll do everything he can to make it right." It just feels absolutely awful when you see those kids.

[fay]

strictlyplatonic said:

Okay, so I was watching CNN the other night and there was a story on there about how a fourteen year old boy shot another of the same age, killing him. The law wants to prosecute the teenager as an adult. But is it right?

One part of me thinks "hell yeah! By that age you should know the difference between right and wrong, especially to that magnitude".

But the other says "no. This boy is just that, a boy. How could he possibly understand what he's doing. How?"

Delving a little deeper into that, I watch a lot of shows with my grandmother about murders. A lot of them are done by young kids. Some you can see aren't remorseful, just whatever. But then you'll see one, one that truly understands what he's done and is horrified. He asks "why? Why did I end that life? It was wrong and I've screwed myself up so bad in doing it. Killing that guy didn't just hurt his family, it hurt mine. Two people died that day I pulled the trigger. And I didn't know what I was doing. I got into that too young, didn't know what I was doing."

So do you think you're old enough to understand what you're doing at that age? Is it right to prosecute teenagers as adults?

well imo


1. if he is truly sorry for what he has done(knowingly or unknowingly).

i. show compassion.....forgive him. if he is sorry then he will remain in control of himself and teach others that the guilt is not worth it.

ii. if you dont have it in you to forgive, then you can fine the youth. yes.... the parents should pay because they are responsible for teaching their kids the rules of living peacefully.

2. if he is not sorry for what he has done.

then there you dont want the incident to be an influence for other teens who want to have a licence to do anything they want.

i. put a heavier fine. parents and the teen should go for therapy.

ii. if the fine or therapy is not effective in changing the mind of the youth then he has to be stopped from becoming an influence for others. how that is to be done is up to the society that will accept them.

i think 14 year olds are very capable of knowing what is right and what is wrong and what are the consequences of killing people. unless they've een brain washed into thinking that they are not responsible for their actions.
9 year olds are taking care of the younger siblings as their parents have passed away due to AIDS or something. i think if 9 year lods can handle the responsibilities of adults( i.e. taking the place of their parents )then a 14 year old can do a much better job.

[TarotDragon]

fay said:

1. if he is truly sorry for what he has done(knowingly or unknowingly).

i. show compassion.....forgive him. if he is sorry then he will remain in control of himself and teach others that the guilt is not worth it.

I like that. But some people would argue that they'd never see the error of their ways if they weren't punished for it first. I don't think that's true for all cases. A lot of these kids really, truly realized what they'd done when the families of the victims stood up and expressed their pain. Those were the lightbubl moments.
Maybe some sort of meeting needs to take place between victim and assailant, I don't know.

[Kwan Yu]

strictlyplatonic said:

Maybe some sort of meeting needs to take place between victim and assailant, I don't know.

Meeting take place
some place
eventually

Great dilemma of Cause and Effect
Man not wise enough
to deal with Crime and Punishment

[rainshine87]

An equally valid argument would be that reaching 18 doesn't necessarily mean that you are intellectually 'adult'. I've known lots of older people who were clearly mentally still children.

"There are no definite degrees between children and adults. Length of life does not mean maturity. A man may live to a hundred and yet remain a child; he may grow tall and be a child all the same, if we mean by a “child” one who has no independent logic in his mind. A man may be called “grown-up” only from the moment his mind has acquired this quality." - Gurdjieff

It also might be helpful if you could define 'right' and 'wrong', and what makes these definitions absolutely correct, so that we know what this 14 year old is supposed to be aware of.

[TarotDragon]

rainshine87 said:

An equally valid argument would be that reaching 18 doesn't necessarily mean that you are intellectually 'adult'

Exactly. So now they're prosecuting them younger and younger thinking that'll change things and I don't think it is.

It also might be helpful if you could define 'right' and 'wrong', and what makes these definitions absolutely correct, so that we know what this 14 year old is supposed to be aware of.

Some areas are gray, I'll admit, but in killing, for me, its very black and white. I don't think there can ever be a justification for one person taking the life of another.