And by age 10 you realize that those are lies.

No I know hes 12, but by thenn I knew what death was, I knew that if you shot someone or they shot you you die, I knew killing another human was murder. you cant just say he dosent know what he was doing as shooting someone in their home is pre determined, so he knew damn well what he was doing as a result he shouldd be punished.

What you are saying is a clear sign of a mentality that should be kept as far away from legal issues as possible; oversimplification.

There are always circumstances, motives, relationships, individual factors that need to be taken into account. That is precisely why we have a legal system in most countries, to deal with these things in a better way than simply reading a newspaper article, then having a mob of vigilantes imprison the kid for life without taking anything whatsoever into consideration.

Unbelievable..... logic has found it's way to this thread.

I fixed that for you. Surprisingly not everyone develops at the same speed as you.

No, what makes kids believe in that is that advlts are telling them about it. It's a perpetuated fantasy. Children throughout history don't have the same fantasy at this age group that there's a fat guy in red who goes chimney diving every winter.

There's nothing that I can see (aside from movies) in society that creates and perpetuates a fantasy that death is temporary.

:whisper: Only if you tell them. There's something called "living under a rock".


You're saying that he should be punished because you knew what the consequences were? You're basing this off your own upbringing, not his. They could be significantly different.

I can't believe I have to explain this. Being a child doesn't equate with being an advlt. Kids aren't just born with advlt understanding and experience and the brain of a child is underdeveloped so even if you explain certain things it doesn't mean they will understand. Death is a complicated subject even for advlts, never mind a child's understanding.

Oh yes I forgot about just how effective the legal system was...oh wait its not effective. He got the gun showing he knew what he was doing, he killed her, therefore he is a murderer and its better than overcomplicating things as the leads to loop holes where people worm their way out of trouble.

The kid hunted, he knew that a gun can kill. Any and every 12 year old knows that death is permanent and killing someone is wrong.

so just because i don't understand death means i can kill someone?

No he knew, he hunted, he knew what the gun did and he still pulled the trigger, I didnt bring my upbrining into it.

Retributive justice isn't always the answer.

Dude, death is not a difficult subject. You shoot it, it dies, and doesn't come back. If a gorilla can understand death, I am sure an 11 or 12 year old could, especially when they've been hunting. And kids aren't as stupid as you are making them out to be. I was programming computer games at the age of 12.

If it can be proved in court you have the mind and ignorance of a child, by all means you might get a lesser charge. You might want to enter your posts in this thread as evidence.

Assuming he's guilty, there's got to be another solution than just throwing him in a cell at age 11 and forgetting about him. I have little faith in psychology and stuff in these instances, but here, come on - he's 12. Things are not done and set yet at that age.

No, it means however that you can't be held accountable for your actions.

And where do you think he gets the morals and values to stop it from happening? His upbringing, that's where. The same way you knew what death was, what murdering would do etc. by the age of 12. Because you were either taught or learned it from intuition.

No but locking him away from society stops him hurting others, is a good enough soloution for me.

hurr hurr i'm superior much?

I guess I shouldn't be facetious when srs bizness abounds, should I?

BS! The kid is 12, capable of handling a gun, and knew what it was for. He most certainly can be held accountable for his actions.

Who cares if the murderer is a child? What matters is that someone is dead now. The kid should be punished as murderers should be. Life sentence or death, whatever the state's laws say. :shrug:
Who gave that child a gun, should be punished too. For crimes against sanity if anything.

One question for me is should the child be judged as an advlt
12 is a borderline age. advlt responsibility for crimes usually begins somewhere between 11-14 depending on the country. In reality it depends on the individual. Some 12 year olds are a lot more advlt than others. Hard and fast rules don't work very well

Another is parental responsibility. Even in a country where gun ownership is common I'd hope most parents wouldn't give unrestricted access to a firearm to a 12 year old. If you believe in gun ownership fine, but at least educate the child in responsible gun ownership and use and don't allow them unrestricted access to the weapon until you are certain they are mature enough to be a responsible firearm user

Exactly at 12 I was in 8th grade, in HIGH SCHOOL. Every child that is sane knows by then that killing is permanent, and what murder is. More so if he hunts. If he doesn't think death is permanent and doesnt see a problem with murder then he isn't sane and should not be allowed out in the general public.

Lucky you're not the one on trial for murder right?

Also it's funny that you're implying computer programming anywhere near as complex a subject as death, and indeed murder (it's motivations etc) is.

It makes absolutely no sense to judge the kid as having the same brain that you, an advlt (or at least someone in their late teens, I'd hope) has. Think about all the things you can do now you couldn't as a kid, as well as all the things you understand a lot better, like having empathy with people, not being selfish, social skills and so on. Understanding of death is something that only comes with age, and shooting a few rabbits isn't going to hammer that home when you've got a young kid involved. All it does is teach them that they're praised when they do do it.

This. Until it is proven he won't be a menace to more people, then he needs to be put away from other people who know that murder is not acceptable.