Children and Crime

Recently a video was released showing a young man being beaten by a group, this was very disturbing to watch.Was this an isolated case? Sadly the answer is no in recent years the crime rate for our youth has gone up drastically! What has caused our children to go to such lengths to commit such violent acts of violence against others?

This writer has been wondering this very thing as I leaf through the daily paper and once again another child under the age of eighteen has committed the unthinkable murder! In cold blood with out any rhyme or reason this young person has taken the life of a friend.

Was this something  this child had been plotting? While this murder is still under investigation there are many lives destroyed by the actions of a child, and very few answers. What will become of this child? What punishment will this child get? Well under the law a child under the age of fourteen in some states thirteen , can not be prosecuted as a adult though they have committed an unthinkable act.

Now does this writer think that a child should be tried as an adult? The answer is no what I do wonder is what is happening to our youth. These children are our future what is to become of these lost children? Once the are released back into society, will they continue to commit even more violet crimes?

While these children are incarcerated what other tricks of the trade will they be learning? I shudder to even think about what they are subject to while locked up. What of the families of the victims do they hold anger and bitterness against the assailant, or do they find it easier to forgive their child’s killer because of their age?

One parent didn’t want the media to label their  child’s killer a monster, this parent  is in such pain and agony  over the loss of their child,yet they were thinking about the child that had taken the life of their only child. What if the killer was an adult would his parent still feel the same way?

Probably not but this is something that we will never know as the one that committed such an act of violence was a child. This writer wonders if perhaps they hold the parents accountable for the actions of their child!Do they wonder if perhaps there was something desperately wrong in the home that drove this youngster to act out in such a horrible way?

Again we may never know, its such a senseless tragedy either way you look at it, both families have been ripped to the very core of their very being, each family living a nightmare that they can’t seem to wake from, life for both families will never be the same.

While doing a bit of research for this piece, some sites have labeled some children that have committed murder evil! Evil this writer hardly thinks that theses lost children fit the description of evil, that label seems to be a bit harsh in this writers opinion.

These children have hardly sprouted horns and a tail, nor do they breath fire or have fangs. No these children are a picture of innocence. So what drives them to commit such violence? Is it environmental or something deeper? What ever it is its worth taking a closer look.

Is society to blame for the way our youth are behaving, do we look the other way and just chalk it up to child’s play when they are being a bit rougher with one another. Do they know their limits and do they understand the consequence’s of their actions?

Do they have this mentality of  I am untouchable because I am not an adult? Therefore I won’t be locked up, do they feel that if they do get caught they will only get a slap on the wrist? So many questions and very few answers yet we as a society need to find a solution before we lose more children to a life of crime.