by Modest Alchemist

Created on: November 20, 2008

Whereas I can see why some people would say "no" on the basis that no child should ever be tried as an adult, this kind of behavior should not go unpunished. What ever happened to personal responsibility in this country? At the age these "children" are, they should know that they are way bigger and stronger than a 7 year old little girl, whom they should love, and that with their actions come great consequences. It wasn't an accident that they killed her. They knew what they were doing, and they are old enough to take responsibility for those actions. There are always exceptions to laws. In some states, for instance, it is legal for a 15 year old to drive as long as he has taken and passed driver's ed.

At 16 and 17 years old, will 1 or 2 years in a juvenile prison be enough to accurately punish these "children" for what they did? Maybe there is a different solution. Perhaps the laws should be changed to clarify that a child over 13 years of age can be tried as an adult. After all, this is when we start to expect more from them anyway. We as a society expect them to become more responsible in school by allowing them to go to and from classes without supervision, we expect them to turn in their homework without being asked or reminded, and we expect them to know right from wrong. They are all capable of having children at this point of maturity, and they are capable of making decisions to have safe sex, and say "no" to drugs, but according to some people, because they are under 18, they can't really be punished for crimes they commit. This is like an open invitation to commit illegal activity because they know they will get away with it.

These two "children" killed a baby, and they were fully aware of what they were doing. If we allow teenagers to get off scott free when they abuse other living beings, then we are going to unleash unprepared adults into this world. What kind of people do you think these "children" will be when they are officially adults? Children who abuse other living things need to get psychological treatment, and they need to learn that there are consequences. Where was the mother during all of this? The mother should be charged with neglect. Who doesn't know that their own teenage daughter is a psycho? These kinds of things don't just happen out of the blue. There are signs of this kind of behavior. No one kills a person first. It starts with animals.

Why shouldn't we strip these two teenagers of all their rights and lock them up forever because of what they did? They have no value for human life, and therefore cannot contribute to society. If this is an issue of putting these two "children" into a prison with the big dogs, then at least lock them up in juvenile corretion until they are old enough to go to real prison. They took a life. The life of their little baby sister. They took her life away for fun. FOR FUN. They weren't even mad at her. They were "play fighting". What kind of people would do this to a little girl? Just think of what kinds of violent acts they are capable of doing when they're actually trying to be violent because they're angry.

Seriously, sometimes I absolutely hate my little sister, but I would never ever beat her to unconsciousness. I would never inflict anything on her but restraint. Even when I was under the age of 18. When I was a "child" I knew better than to cause deliberate physical harm to another living being for any reason. There is something seriously wrong with these people, and they need to serve the time for it. And they need psychological help.

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