“We think an exception can be made based on the facts and circumstances … This is precedent-setting. We’re going to charge an 8-year-old with two counts of homicide."
What. How. Why?
Sweet Jesus. Let us assume, for the moment, the worst: that this little 8-year-old boy actually premeditated to murder his father, and that he fully understood exactly what this meant and that he actively sought out a weapon and planned the opportunity to do this. Let us further assume that he did this because he is evil.
Is there any possible way that society will be better off by this child being convicted of murder?
If the child is “evil” as you so put it- would it be well to let him go free unpunished?
I was going to edit, but I didn’t want to change the post after someone responded. I work with felons. I believe that the prison system, for all its massive faults, actually does serve the purposes of rehabilitating prisoners and deterring crime. But the boy is a child. He will someday be an adult. That process cannot happen appropriately by keeping him in a box. He needs to be raised. He needs to be taught. Sociopaths can be trained to live productive lives. He will not be kept in prison for life unless he is tried as an adult, and it is unlikely even then. He will not (god willing) be executed. That means that whatever punishment we impose, it cannot and must not prevent him from becoming as well adjusted an adult as it possible for him to someday be. That will take a lot of work, a lot of time, a lot of care, and–if such a thing is possible for him–a lot of love. The criminal justice system is not capable of that. Neither is the juvenile justice system. At best, it will create an imbecile, incapable of surviving in society and permanently institutionalized; at worst, it will create a monster worse that what is there now.
I don’t, of course, believe for one instant that an eight-year-old could be evil; they haven’t formed morally yet. There is a reason children that young are not considered legally culpable, even for heinous acts. I suspect there is still hope for this boy, but not if he is convicted.
Oh, come on. The police chief already said that the case is precedent-setting.
Do we really need hardened eight-year-old murderers clogging up our prison system? Remember, the younger they are, the more time a life sentence takes up.
He could always be sent to military school.
I don’t get this thread. Well, the “This not a gun control thread” bit, at least. Are we supposed to pretend that a child of 8 would be equally as likely to be able to kill 2 adult males with anything but a firearm?
Okay, I’ll give it a whirl, despite the threadbare nature of the piece linked to. Say the boy was being abused by these two adults, and decided he’d had enough? Would his actions then be deemed evil, or enterprising?
The killers of James Bulger were only 10. Children can be capable of premeditated evil.
You haven’t worked with enough kids.
I love you Sheriff Truman.Well, I was going to say, where are the parents in this situation. The parents should be responsible here. Since he killed his father and his fathers friend (or whatever) it would balance out. Maybe not. Maybe his mother should go to jail too if in fact she was apart of the living situation.
Why does this eight year old have access to a firearm?
Why does he know how to shoot it?
How was his accuracy good enough to kill 2 people?
If the parents weren’t such gun lovers and had not shared their love of guns with their kid this would have never happened. Try showing a kid a gun that he’s never seen before. He won’t have a damn clue what to do with it. But here that is not the case. That kid knew how to use the firearm. It isn’t just an accident shooting 2 different people. This kid knew damn well how to use that firearm. Though, of course he couldn’t comprehend what happens should he shoot someone, twice. This is why you don’t expose kids to things like guns this early on. Does your 8 year old really need to know how to use a gun?
What: We don’t know what, yet. The police heavily questioned an eight year old boy who initially said that he didn’t do it, but finally confessed without the presence of parent or attorney.
How: Sorry, but if this eight year old did it, gun control has to come up because the child had easy access to a weapon.
Why: Can’t even be discussed until the reality of what happened is established.
Knowledge is never a bad thing, especially of lethal things. By the time I was 5 I was better with a .22 rifle than most adults I know. Better at aiming, and unfortunately, better with overall safety. I’d seen animals actually killed with the rifle and I knew exactly what it was for and what it was capable of.
I disagree that exposing kids to firearms is necessarily bad, but doing it half-assed is the height of stupidity. Likewise failing to keep the guns stored safely.
Gun control doesn’t necessarily enter into it. There are other ways that an eight-year old could theoretically murder two adults. Poison, for example. Or by tripping the jack while both of them were working under the car. Maybe the two adults were in a drunken coma. Maybe they were both limbless circus midgets and couldn’t put up a fight. Maybe the kid just opened the screen door and let the scorpions get them. This is Arizona we’re talking about, after all.
EpicNonsense - I started shooting when I was 10. A great sport that taught me to respect guns of all kinds. I was taught how to drive at the same age.
:dubious:
Cite? His parents where gun lovers? As I mentioned, I started shooting early. Just like I started driving early. Neither of my parents are gun or car lovers. They are pragmatic though.
It does sound like a parental control, and child rearing issue though.
I’m married, but w/o children. I’ll not comment on the child rearing point of this any more other than to say that I think the parents where irresponsible.
I think that a stable, well raised 8yo would understand the basic implications of killing his father, and his fathers friend. I suspect that the father taught the 8yo how to use a weapon.
I wonder if child abuse is the culprit here.
And maybe he shot them with a gun he shouldn’t have had access to. When you can come up with a link to a story about two drunken circus midgets who are sipping poison while working under a car who are killed by scorpions who trip the jack holding the car up, we’ll debate that particular problem, o.k.?
What? Then we teach him killing is ok as long as it’s for his country?
He’s not going to learn how to calm the fuck down going to a military school. Only that there’s a time and place for everything.
It’s a fucked situation no matter what.
And frankly, if you raise a child so poorly to have your child kill you and your friend, I suspect that you got what was coming to you.
Some people should not be parents. The OP is right. This isn’t about gun control.
I feel for the child.
Hah! Nice try. The papers don’t ever find out about the midget killing stories I could tell. That’s the nice thing about midgets: they fit anywhere.
Wait I know! Okay… The kid’s mom enrolled him in a karate class after school, and the instructor was a lama of the White Crane School who taught him the legendary Sacred Athame open hand technique which strikes down enemies like the gaze of almighty Shiva.
Sounds like you’ve been reading too many Destroyer novels. 
I am just saying that the gun control issue need not be allowed to cloud the discussion. The cops claim that the kid is guilty of murdering two men. How he killed them is irrelevant.
Elephants! There you go. What if the dad had been an elephant trainer, and the kid saw an opportunity to stampede the herd at a critical moment? It could happen. Given the premise, this scenario is entirely plausible.