In 2010, 12 year old Cristian Fernandez beat his two year old half brother to death in Jacksonville, Florida.
Also in Jacksonville in 2010, Charles Southern, 17, and Connor Pridgen, 16, lured Makia Coney from their private school and shot her in the head in a nearby field.
The number of mass school shootings committed by children under the age of 18 has also increased.
When adults commit murder, it's easy to judge, convict, and sentence them to either death or life in prison. But when the offender is a child, can we really in good conscience do either?
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Comments
That is so sad. It's unfortunate what they see as tough and masculine. Maybe that comes with no proper father figure in their life? Who knows, but this is clearly a problem not limited to only america.
Some boys are taught a wrong idea of what it is to be a man. They think that manhood involves violence and throwing your weight around, so to be seen as a man it is necessary to do violence. The greatest act of violence is murder.
Take the example of one of my ex-pupils [I taught him at fifteen, but only saw him thrice.] After he left school he decided to show that he was a real man, so with two cronies he found a "Newton Heather",[he was a"Claytoner."] these being Manchester districts. The two cronies held the lad, while my ex-pupil ran a knife through the lad's chest. Great street cred!Real man, at three to one odds. But he missed the heart and the victim survived to identify him. He was sent to prison for a long time.
I think with a lot of kids their upbringing fostered their behavior which led to the murders they committed. It's hard to see young kids in prison for the rest of their lives, but murder is an adult crime. True, there are others who seem to be wired wrong. I wouldn't feel safe around someone who committed murder in the past.
Individual circumstances? All of you are joking right? Clearly these kids need to be tried as adults. Far to often people overlook the fact that kids do have cognitive thought, and assume they can be rehabilitated. Even if the child had a hard life that's no excuse to kill someone. Everyone here is overlooking the severity of what they did, either they're wired wrong and can't be safely rehabilitated; or they're environmental conditioned to kill, in which case a fair trial would determine whether or not the child is sane. If he/she is indeed sane, and he/she killed why then would we let the child walk? Youth is no excuse.
I'm not sure if they're wired wrong, or if it is a result of their upbringing. Either way, they clearly need help.
It's a tough subject all right. Some kids seem to have no empathy and little sign of a conscience. It's not clear if they can develop these, but I believe efforts should be made to try to find ways to reach them.
I know. We have become so far from what is considered normal, it's no wonder there are messed up kids
Some children (and not just celebrity offspring) have no clue what 'normal' is as defined by the rest of society.
I agree. There is definitely something inside of them that's off.
Interesting read, Abby. You pose some tough questions. Like Georgette, I tend to think you have to look at each case individually to try and determine whether rehabilitation is possible. I fear, in a lot of cases, like Southern/Pridgen, there is something biological rather than psychological that drives them to kill. It seems so bizarre to us that someone could shoot another human being in the head simply to know what it feels like, because their brains aren't wired the same as ours. In those instances, I think there's little doubt the perpetrator would kill again if given the opportunity.