Well, that is far from the truth, the "loop hole" was the current law's of their land. They have since changed the law, but, he was sentenced under the former law. He has served his time. It is what the law required.
Here is the thing, and I may get slammed for these opinions but they are mine but always happy to read another's point of view.
Do we put a kid into prison for their rest of their life, even if they have not gone through puberty, voted, had a beer, decided to serve in the military. We do not consider these kids old enough to do that, how do we hold them criminally responsible.
Prison has long left the rehabilitation side of the coin, but it is my impression that the institution for kids, actually still works with the kids, give them a daily routine of classes, as if they were at home and hopefully they have an end is sight where they can return to the community and contribute.
I saw the Mayor of the community who said, if this young man returned he could not guarantee his safety. I hope, and pray, that there are no retaliations, it would be waste.
One other point, this kid has kept his nose clean, he says he would like to pursue the ministry, so he seems to have some goals and I can only hope he will have better luck than Lionel Tate who killed a little girl and said the WWF was the cause, he was given break by the State of Florida and that kid squandered it. He is now awaiting trial for a robbery and the judge denied him bail.
I love seeing these stories in the British press all the time.
If he had stolen his neighbor's chickens I may agree with you.
But what he and his bud did was cold, calculating murder. Those are the types that wring the necks of cats and pull off the legs of hamsters.
They should be exterminated because it *will* happen again.
The little dirtball should be sent off to Club Gitmo to do his "community service" being a party favor for the guests there.
I have a great deal of compassion for most kids, in most situations, but this little piece of pig manure isn't deserving of that kindness.
If they had kept his worthless carcass in jail til he was in his 40's I might be a bit more caring...
YES!
But they were responsible. Who else was?
They were old enough to know right from wrong, that they were not "playing a game". If they couldn't recognize that their actions had serious consequences, if they had so little respect for human life, then they deserve to be confined for the rest of their lives.
Not for their benefit; for ours.
Why didn't you consider or address the real possibility of them murdering again. Statistically, the odds of criminals engaging in further criminal activity upon release is incredibly high. If you feel convinced otherwise about these two, perhaps you would feel differently if they were among your children in your town... What these kids did involved considerable planning and hateful reflection.
How about the perspective of the citizenry, who will now live in greater fear with mass murderers set free among their daughters and sons. The citizenry have civil rights too.
I guess it has to depend on their age and the severity of the crime. I hope that 13-year-olds have the wherewithal not to kill their classmates. Millions go through life without doing anything of the sort. It might seem harsh to send a young teenager away for life, but it's also harsh to give innocent folks the death penalty on school grounds for one's own amusement.
Now we give society a jail house educated murderer whose role models have been the kiddy bass asses. He has learned to con, lie, cheat and beat the system. He probably has been a bit of a celebrity being a murderer among the kiddy crooks. It would be interesting to have his peers give us an honest profile on him and compare it to the staff assessment. The same dark side lurks in this mind. Cold blooded murder of this nature ranks right in there with Charles Manson. Time to smell the coffee. We haven't heard the last of this sicko.
Prayers for the families and the loss of their loved ones. They will live with this pain for the rest of their life. No punishment, no amount of years behind bars will ever take their pain away. God bless them all.
PING
To address those who have already commented on the thread, thank you for being so courteous while disagreeing with me.
Do I think they should have remained in jail longer, perhaps. However, if there was any, just a little bit of rehab, than sending them onto an adult penal institution would only in my eye's increase the likelihood of their turning to crime, as they will have nothing else to know, they have been incarcerated since 11 and 13.
I do think there should be some type of supervision, not only for us, but for them. If there is a time where this young man might fail, it would be now. I hope that there is family and clergy who will be there to assist them.
The other young man, he will have served more than half his life, I do have mixed feelings on this issue.
I support the legislature to change the laws in their states. But, one thing many are not aware of is in most states the age of release is 26 and their record is clean. It is disconcerting for sure.
I hope this will be a success story but I am not optimistic, I hope they will not repeat but they might, it is however less of a chance than those sex offender's re offending.
But, and I am serious about this, if we are going to treat children as adult's with the same mind as you or I, than we should afford them the rights of driving, marriage, military voting.. the list goes on and I am a bit extreme there is something out of whack with all of this.
When underage kids commit crimes their parents should do the time.
Becky