The line between being a child and being an adult is not so easy to define these days some 11 year olds are wise beyond their years and some people in their thirties are still acting like spoilt brats. so when faced with a crime like the alleged killing by a boy who was eleven at the time should the courts try him as a Juvenile and basically give him a get out of jail free card when he reaches his majority?
Jordan Brown is charged with the murder of his father's fianceé . Police believe he may have been jealous of Ms Houk and her unborn son
He is alleged to have shot the 26-year-old mother of two in the back of the head as she lay in bed. Prosecutors say Brown, aged 11 at the time, then left the house and went to school. He was later arrested after telling investigators conflicting stories.
Police said the boy owned the gun used in the killing – a youth version of a 20-gauge shotgun. Brown was said to have been jealous of Miss Houk and the impending birth of his brother.
If convicted of first-degree murder in an adult court he will face a mandatory life sentence without parole, the youngest person to do so in American history.
The case stands in stark contrast to the situation in Britain, where the ten-year-old killers of toddler James Bulger – Robert Thompson and Jon Venables – served eight years in a juvenile facility after being convicted of murder in 1993.
Venables is now back in prison having broken the terms of his release.
Yesterday American legal experts were divided over Judge Matto’s ruling, with some strongly condemning it.
Cynthia Orr, of the National Association of Criminal Defence Attorneys, said: ‘It’s simply inappropriate to put a 12-year-old child in the adult prison system.
‘It won’t work. It won’t benefit society or this child.’
Psychologist Laurence Steinberg, an expert on adolescent behaviour and brain biology at Temple University, Philadelphia, said: ‘The idea of taking a child this age and locking them up for life is pretty repugnant.
‘What he allegedly did is repugnant also. But the heinousness of the crime does not make him an adult.’
Eight years for such a brutal double killing does not seem right to me so I for one think that being able this evil killer to spend the rest of his life in jail should be on the table at his trial. Strangely I suspect that there will be a Latte Sipper (of the wig wearing variety) who will think that it is outrageous that a court should contemplate giving a 12 year old killer to a mandatory life sentence, But then again there are some of that persuasion who think that a child at 8 months gestation is not actually human either…
Saddened Comrades
Howdy Iain. I’m glad I haven’t had to make any decisions yet concerning children committing adult crimes. I think I would have to know as much as possible about the case before deciding and even then, after sitting through court proceedings it would be hard in most cases. The cars great. Regards
I’m pretty sure at 8 he knows what’s right and wrong… then again, how much of a concept of death does he have?
Difficult one to answer. I don’t think that what ever solution is found it will not satisfy everyone.Like most items of dissent the noisy unsatisfied party is usually the one most noticed. I am afraid that I have no solution but am willing to debate.
Police said the boy owned the gun used in the killing – a youth version of a 20-gauge shotgun.
There’s the problem. It’s either that or the paper is pulling a rather sick April Fools Day joke.
Sadly Ray it is not an April fools day joke.
But I do agree with you that the ready availability of firearms must have been a factor here I also suspect that some types of computer games may have done a good job of making killing easier.
This will be a story to watch.
Blaming the gun or lack of gun control for the boys actions it stupid, the Bulger kid wasn’t shot to death or knifed to death. If that doesn’t make any difference to a gun hater, then they should be whining for rock & iron bar control laws too.
Or here’s another one where the availability and culture of guns that frightens far too many in the western world saved lives.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316443,00.html
If it weren’t for the 5-year-old boy with the gun, grandpa and the boy would be dead.
As for this piece of shit that murdered that poor mother, some will never acknowledge that there is evil amongst even children and just casually dismissing it as non-existent doesn’t make it go away.
I think that the issue of personal gun owner ship is like the curates egg MK while I appreciate your argument that armed citizens can possibly save lives in a society awash with guns I think that the other side of the coin is events like this one which at the very least suggest that guns in a family home should be kept under lock and Key in a suitable gun safe that is not accessible to a boy with clear issues about the family he finds himself in.
In our country where gun ownership (legal or otherwise) is low it is a different story.