Young People these Days
A few days ago there was a shooting in a Toronto school which ended with a 15 year old dead. A few days ago there was a 13 year old kid was stabbed in Vancouver and died on route to the hospital. Both of these acts were committed by 'young offenders' which leads to the questions: What is wrong with the young people today and Why are they allowed to get away with this?
The shooting in a Toronto school is 'shocking' -- It is unlikely that any student walks into a school thinking that some maniac is walking around with a gun for shear thrills. What makes this story that much more 'interesting' is that "the two [seventeen year old] suspects were friends of the victim." The Vancouver stabbing is no less shocking than the Toronto shooting. A 13 year old boy gets stabbed by a 15 year old (the actual report claims there were 10 youth there between the ages of 13 - 15) over a girl AND the kid wasn't even involved!
This leads to the question of how young is to young to be tried as an adult? For a young offender the harshest sentence for something like the above is 10 years in the custody of someone. This is rarely the case anyways because kids "don't know any better." As a child, if I cut myself with a knife, it usually hurt and I wouldn't do it again. One burns them self with fire they usually do not do it again. Its a learn from trial and error. Implicitly one should know that if you're shot with a gun or stabbed repeatedly its likely that you'll die. So how young is too young? Luckily if the convict is over 14 they are able to be charged as an adult in severe offenses. The brother of mine is 12. He knows what happens, he knows the consequences to his actions and he would never do something like that.
The bottom line is young'ens of today need to learn to accept the consequences of their actions. You play with fire, you're likely to get burned. Three years of sitting in a support group saying to yourself "I made a mistake and as a result Johnny's dead" doesn't do much. Three years says, "Hey I'm free, sorry Johnny but I'm gonna move on with my life."
The shooting in a Toronto school is 'shocking' -- It is unlikely that any student walks into a school thinking that some maniac is walking around with a gun for shear thrills. What makes this story that much more 'interesting' is that "the two [seventeen year old] suspects were friends of the victim." The Vancouver stabbing is no less shocking than the Toronto shooting. A 13 year old boy gets stabbed by a 15 year old (the actual report claims there were 10 youth there between the ages of 13 - 15) over a girl AND the kid wasn't even involved!
This leads to the question of how young is to young to be tried as an adult? For a young offender the harshest sentence for something like the above is 10 years in the custody of someone. This is rarely the case anyways because kids "don't know any better." As a child, if I cut myself with a knife, it usually hurt and I wouldn't do it again. One burns them self with fire they usually do not do it again. Its a learn from trial and error. Implicitly one should know that if you're shot with a gun or stabbed repeatedly its likely that you'll die. So how young is too young? Luckily if the convict is over 14 they are able to be charged as an adult in severe offenses. The brother of mine is 12. He knows what happens, he knows the consequences to his actions and he would never do something like that.
The bottom line is young'ens of today need to learn to accept the consequences of their actions. You play with fire, you're likely to get burned. Three years of sitting in a support group saying to yourself "I made a mistake and as a result Johnny's dead" doesn't do much. Three years says, "Hey I'm free, sorry Johnny but I'm gonna move on with my life."
Labels: young offender
posted by Mathew Pagalilauan at 11:40 PM
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