A Sign That We May Finally Be Getting Serious About Juvenile Violent Crime?

This is another nearly tragic story out of Charm City that thankfully didn't end as horribly as it might have, and could (possibly) even carry some positive portents for the future. The very bad part of our story unfolded in May of last year on a school bus in Prince George's County, Maryland. A school bus driver stopped to pick up some teens who proceeded to board the bus. But rather than sitting down and heading to school, 16-year-old Kaeden Holland, who went by the handle of "Baby K," approached a 14-year-old boy on the bus with two of his friends and pulled out a handgun. He attempted to fire three shots into the younger boy, one in the head and two into the chest. Thankfully, the gun misfired and failed to deliver the fatal shots, but everyone on board, including the driver was seriously traumatized.

Here is where the story takes a strange twist, at least in the modern era. Normally you might expect that the teens got away or at most got a slap on the wrist. But Baby K was tracked down and arrested along with his two accomplices. He was locked up and charged with attempted first-degree murder and use of a handgun during the commission of a crime of violence, charged as an adult. Earlier this year he agreed to enter a plea deal and this week he was sentenced to 25 years in an adult prison. So does this mean that we're actually going to start taking rampant juvenile crime and gang violence seriously? (CBS News)

16-year-old Kaeden Holland, who went by the handle of "Baby K," approached a 14-year-old boy on the bus with two of his friends and pulled out a handgun.

Unclear whether the "two friends" were friends of the 14-year-old boy or of the perpetrator. (This is finally cleared up later in the article - but still.)

Am guessing that the new prison "handle" of "Baby K" will be "Baby K-Y."

Regards,

The “we” in the title is offensive. It implies that society as a whole has been ignoring juvenile crime when in truth it is the far left liberal elements that have been ignoring pretty much all crime including juvenile crime. As far as I’m concerned uniform sentencing should be applied irrespective of the age of the criminal. If an 11 year old illegal immigrated commits armed robbery put him in jail for 20 years. If a 14 yo murdered someone execute him. Now the mealy mouthed liberal hypocrites will cry “it’s not a deterrent”, this is not true. The one executed for murder is deterred from committing further crimes and the one locked up for 20 years is prevented from preying on the law abiding for 20 years.

My opinion is that some people have no moral compass. They know the difference between right and wrong, but chose to commit criminal acts anyway. I also think that with a few exceptions this moral compass can’t be instilled in them. They either have it or don’t. This is why the majority of crimes are committed by a few career criminals who are a fortunately small subset of the population.

A Sign That We May Finally Be Getting Serious About Juvenile Violent Crime?

No.

The author admits, deeper in the article, that he's "probably being overly optimistic." I spent the first 15 years of my legal career in a big city Public Defender's office. In the very first case I worked on, I got an innocent man out of prison. I wandered into the office as an IT specialist, with zero legal experience or training. I was told that their appellate attorney had just dropped dead & they had an innocent client in prison, whose appellate brief was due in 16 days.

That was where I switched careers. When I won the case NOBODY thought I could win, I was treated like Tom Brady. But I was the college kid who wandered into the Super Bowl & threw a Hail Mary pass.

After I won it, I went after the crooked cops on the Vice & Drugs Squad, then the judge. That was the "Batman" period in my career, viciously fighting corruption in "Gotham City." A Vice & Drugs sergeant & the judge went to prison.

But all the crooked cops, prosecutors & judges I COULDN'T bust were coming after my family, terrorizing my pregnant wife. We had to leave town & go into hiding, in a distant little farm town.

As a result, I am not overly optimistic. I'm a realist.

What happened in Prince George's County was one case in one city. One assistant DA in juvenile court had a brief moment of sanity. His conscience had a moment of power. And he did the right thing.

Then he went back to the office & got a harsh lecture from his boss, the DA who was elected with money from George & Alex Soros. The DA takes his orders from the Soros family, or he'll be out of a very nice, high-paying job in the next election & he won't have any chance of moving up the ladder like Kamala the Hooker did.

Get real, ladies & gentlemen. This was a fluke. Just like me getting an innocent man out of prison. Or Skywalker destroying the Death Star. Believe me, The Empire Strikes Back.

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