waywardwind, I know we've had our differences in the past, but I must tell you I am in TOTAL agreement with you here. You do the crime, you do the time, whether 12 or 92 years old. You are old enough to KNOW better by that age, and certainly old enough to know what actions cause physical harm to another human being. You are old enough to be able to restrain yourself and old enough to suffer the consequences of your actions.

Aubrey...Unfortunately, my taxes ARE gonna help witht he expenses. Most kids, when they start to get into trouble will ditch school, swipe some comic books, run with the wrong crowd steal a car and work their way up the ladder of the penal code. NOT THIS KID! He started out of the chute with capital murder.

I'm not saying the mother doesn't share the blame -- certainly she does, but evidently SHE didn't kill anybody.

"... i'm just saying don't kill him. help him learn from his mistake, and point him, guide him in an educated way"

Yeah, that'll make him a better inmate, I suppose. No, I don't think it'll do any good to spend more than the absolute minimum on this kid for the rest of his life. Keep him in a cage where he can't hurt anybody else and forget he ever existed.

"is he really ruined? do we really want to be that thoughtless"

Tell you what, Aubrey. If he gets out let him come live with YOU. I'm sure your love and understanding will straighten him out and he'll become an upstanding, productive member of society.
Uh huh. That'll happen.

The kid is obviously insane. Lock him up for good or have one less dangerous person on the planet and just put him down for good.

Malaise..."Executing 12 year olds? Even incarcerating them with adults? What is happening to our country when people don't see that these are children who need help? "

Settle down. Nobody's talking about executing the kid, fer cryin' out loud or even incarcerating him with adults. He'll be locked up in juvi till he reaches, what ? 18? I'm not sure the age, but THEN he'll be transferred to the real prison with other real prisoners to complete his sentence. Yeah, I think it's a good idea. I wouldn't want THAT kid living next door to me -- WOULD YOU????

Face it, he's ruined. He won't ever be "rehibilitated". It's too late for him. The only thing society can do is to lock him away where he can't hurt anybody.

Executing 12 year olds? Even incarcerating them with adults? What is happening to our country when people don't see that these are children who need help? They haven't grown up yet. The US will be viewed by the rest of decent societies in the world as an extremist culture, like Saudi Arabia chopping off body parts.

I guess that's one way to stop immigration.

At age 12 they're still boys (and girls). So to me that is a hard call, barring the fact if it wasn't self-defense. If someone that young knows how to shoot a gun and kills someone, regardless of age, the victim is still dead. The survivors have to suffer.

I would think each case would need to be looked at as what was this kid like. Was he related to a gang, was he in and out of trouble with the law already, etc...? Or was this an "out of the ordinary" incident?

I would also want to look at the parent(s) and the raising of the child.

But again, regardless of the situation, the victim is still dead!

I was probably 8-9yrs old when my dad started teaching me about guns and shooting (I'm a pretty good shot if I do say so myself) but also I was taught gun saftey at the same time. And long before the gun lessons I was taught respect for others!! And I passed these lessons on to my kids.