# Police: Teens killed man -- just because **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 20, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-teens-killed-man-just-because/666717 "2013-08-20T15:04:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-teens-killed-man-just-because/666717/101 "2013-08-21T20:30:07Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > I don’t know about America, but here in the UK the Press Complaints Commission [code of practice](http://www.pcc.org.uk/cop/practice.html) specifically states that a person’s race should not be mentioned unless it is pertinent to the story. I can’t see how it is “genuinely relevant to the story” in this case. There is no such commission in the United States. The government has zero power to regulate what a newspaper wants to publish. I have heard about some newspapers considering such standards, but they would be entirely voluntary. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-teens-killed-man-just-because/666717/102 "2013-08-21T21:10:51Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > What are boat people? Really? We had these in the USA too. SE Asians, usually referring to Vietnamese escaping Vietnam. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-teens-killed-man-just-because/666717/103 "2013-08-21T21:37:29Z")
> [@crucible](#): > > Some teens and young adults do kill people just for the fun of it. It happens. > > Then, while I understand the desire to be merciful to younger people, they should be killed in the most obscene and painful way, their heads attached to poles and paraded through the halls of places where you find mush-brained people like that. Had a distant cousin who was a thrill killer. They should have cut him into pieces, starting with arms and legs and other appendages and fed them to the hogs while he watched, his eyelids surgically removed. > > I’d be a little more merciful to those who kill while robbing or raping or rioting. Just kill them with a red hot poker inserted into their rectum, then bury them in a manure pile. > > the idea that there is any justification, for intentionally killing as a crime or in conjunction with a crime, is simply bullshit. > > And, too, guns should be banned from anyone’s hands until they are 40. You are just as bad (maybe worse) than the criminals you rail against if you believe this. Disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-teens-killed-man-just-because/666717/104 "2013-08-21T21:59:21Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > What are boat people? Refugees who arrive by boat seeking asylum. They are enormously unpopular here and both of the major parties campaigning for our upcoming election are emphasising their plan to “stop the boats”. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-teens-killed-man-just-because/666717/105 "2013-08-21T22:26:42Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Really? We had these in the USA too. SE Asians, usually referring to Vietnamese escaping Vietnam. Yes, really. Thank you for answering and I apologize for not knowing everything in the world. > [@Eliahna](#): > > Refugees who arrive by boat seeking asylum. They are enormously unpopular here and both of the major parties campaigning for our upcoming election are emphasising their plan to “stop the boats”. Thanks for answering. I was thinking it was tourists from cruise ships being a-holes or something. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-teens-killed-man-just-because/666717/106 "2013-08-21T22:52:15Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > There is no such commission in the United States. The government has zero power to regulate what a newspaper wants to publish. I have heard about some newspapers considering such standards, but they would be entirely voluntary. I don’t think the Press Complaints Commission is a government org. It’s an industry self-regulating org. I’m sure US media outlets have some sort of internal style guide too. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-teens-killed-man-just-because/666717/107 "2013-08-21T23:22:47Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Thanks for answering. I was thinking it was tourists from cruise ships being a-holes or something. Just to amplify Eliahna’s answer a little. There is a blackmarket industry in Indonesia run by ‘people smugglers’ that organise boats (often old fishing boats) to ferry illegal immigrants from Indonesia to Australia. The individuals paying for this service are from a diverse background (in terms of their countries of origin), but all essentially claim to be refugees from their respective homelands for one reason or another. The issue has been used by various political figures and parties in Australia as a points scoring exercise and has been escalated beyond how much of a problem it actually is. (Of the total number of foreigners illegally in Australia, those arriving by boat is a minor percentage). The boat people issue seems to hit home to a lot of Aussies though because it is seen as being ‘unfair’. Australia takes in a fair number of refugees each year through a formal immigration process where the refugees are granted permanent residency, etc but those arriving by boat are seen as trying to cheat the system/jumping the queue, which is just not on! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-teens-killed-man-just-because/666717/108 "2013-08-21T23:23:53Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > I don’t think the Press Complaints Commission is a government org. It’s an industry self-regulating org. > > I’m sure US media outlets have some sort of internal style guide too. A news organization might if it chooses to do so institute its own ethical code for its employees. Not all news organizations have, and there is nothing that requires them to do so. Even if an organization does have a code of conduct on paper, there is nothing that requires it to enforce that code. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-teens-killed-man-just-because/666717/109 "2013-08-21T23:37:41Z")
The sole exception might be those entities that hold a license to broadcast over the public airwaves. In theory, the F. C. C. could revoke a license for failure to serve the public interest, but I’ve never heard of that happening when the “offense” is the dissemination of truthful information. Simply put a court can order the parties before it to maintain confidentiality but if the press finds out, there is notches ism to prevent dissemination. There is no general power of a court to issue gag orders against the general public like there is in Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-teens-killed-man-just-because/666717/110 "2013-08-22T03:32:55Z")
I’ve been disturbed by what I only found out today when I discovered that the original picture I had seen misrepresented the third suspect as Black. Pretty irresponsible reporting. An article in the “Herald Sun News” from Melbourne, Australia had a pretty informative article claiming that the three boys were affiliated with the Crips gang. So perhaps they were partaking in some kind of initiation ritual? Another possible angle mentioned was that one of the boys was an aspiring Olympics wrestler so there may have been some connection there. Jealousy? We don’t know whether they singled out their victim but they did drive to a different part of town to ease their boredom. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-teens-killed-man-just-because/666717/111 "2013-08-22T03:38:13Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Maybe that’s why he hasn’t been back. He went black? ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-teens-killed-man-just-because/666717/112 "2013-08-22T04:34:53Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Really? We had these in the USA too. SE Asians, usually referring to Vietnamese escaping Vietnam. On edit, asked and answered a lot. Returning now to our regularly scheduled thread. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-teens-killed-man-just-because/666717/113 "2013-08-22T04:39:36Z")
> [@GreedySmurf](#): > > Just to amplify Eliahna’s answer a little. > > There is a blackmarket industry in Indonesia run by ‘people smugglers’ that organise boats (often old fishing boats) to ferry illegal immigrants from Indonesia to Australia. The individuals paying for this service are from a diverse background (in terms of their countries of origin), but all essentially claim to be refugees from their respective homelands for one reason or another. > > The issue has been used by various political figures and parties in Australia as a points scoring exercise and has been escalated beyond how much of a problem it actually is. (Of the total number of foreigners illegally in Australia, those arriving by boat is a minor percentage). The boat people issue seems to hit home to a lot of Aussies though because it is seen as being ‘unfair’. Australia takes in a fair number of refugees each year through a formal immigration process where the refugees are granted permanent residency, etc but those arriving by boat are seen as trying to cheat the system/jumping the queue, which is just not on! 😉 And just to amplify on your amplification… The term “boat people” started being current in the 70’s, when it applied to Vietnamese immigrants, large numbers of whom were settled here and in the US (and possibly other places?) by a fairly formalised process organised by the receiving governments themselves. The current boat-migration wave comes mainly from Afghanistan, with some Sri Lankans and others in the mix. The vast majority of them are in fact refugees (as judged by the various government bodies whose task it is to judge such things), but the major political parties both try to spend an enormous amount of time and effort trying to obscure this. It’s a bizarrely significant political hot potato, given that boat people are only about 5% or so of each year’s total migration intake. ETA: I’m not as restrained as Gleena. Getting off hobby-horse in three…two… ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-teens-killed-man-just-because/666717/114 "2013-08-22T06:01:43Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > ETA: I’m not as restrained as Gleena. Getting off hobby-horse in three…two… HA, you must have seen my unedited answer. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-teens-killed-man-just-because/666717/115 "2013-08-22T06:51:45Z")
Actually not, but I like it already just from that comment 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-teens-killed-man-just-because/666717/116 "2013-08-22T09:51:02Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > I don’t think the Press Complaints Commission is a government org. It’s an industry self-regulating org. Correct, but the PCC code is widely respected and adhered to within the industry. Usually. ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-teens-killed-man-just-because/666717/117 "2013-08-22T11:25:38Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > I think Australia calling attention to the US’s gun problems is an excellent idea. Where did these guys get the gun? It’s the elephant in the room the NRA and gun-supporters always try to avoid. It’s always bad parenting and video games. It’s never _ **the fact guns are easier for kids to buy than cigarettes, booze and porn** _. (bolding mine) _ **Cite?** _ :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-teens-killed-man-just-because/666717/118 "2013-08-22T13:31:06Z")
> [@JBDivmstr](#): > > (bolding mine) > > _ **Cite?** _ :dubious: I would imagine they acquired it illegally. The question is, how difficult is it to acquire a firearm illegally? ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-teens-killed-man-just-because/666717/119 "2013-08-22T13:43:40Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I would imagine they acquired it illegally. > The question is, how difficult is it to acquire a firearm illegally? [http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/For-teens-illegal-guns-easy-to-get-on-streets-1283875.php](http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/For-teens-illegal-guns-easy-to-get-on-streets-1283875.php) > [@](#): > > “People can get stolen guns for 50, 100 bucks,” said Gabe Morales, a local gang expert who works with police and at-risk youths. “It’s easier to get a gun than it is to get a car.” > > You can’t buy rifles or shotguns in Washington until age 18. People can possess a pistol in limited circumstances at 18 but can’t purchase one or carry a concealed pistol until age 21. > > Morales said teens unable to get a handgun legally often ask around on the streets until they’re connected with street dealers who specialize in selling firearms. Sometimes they peddle a range of guns from the trunks of their cars. [http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/198633621.html](http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/198633621.html) > [@](#): > > When he was in eighth grade, Malcolm met a gun dealer inside an abandoned north Chicago duplex. Diapers and dishes littered the floor, and the air reeked of urine. To find this place, Malcolm just asked around the neighborhood — there were guys who knew guys who knew guys, and none of those guys cared that he was only 14. > > The dealer lined up the selection on a coffee table, among them a “deuce deuce” revolver, a .380 Beretta, a Glock 19. Malcolm’s eyes went to the .357 Magnum. He liked the idea of a revolver — it didn’t jam and didn’t drop casings that police could find later. He handed over $300, which also bought six rounds. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-teens-killed-man-just-because/666717/120 "2013-08-22T13:52:51Z")
Perhaps we need to work on that. :dubious: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-teens-killed-man-just-because/666717.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-teens-killed-man-just-because/666717.md?page=7)