[AnotherUnixGeek]

It was a mistake, he said, a sudden primal surge that made him and his friends Luis Oyola, 16, and 17-year-old Andrew Ihrcke begin punching and kicking Baum.

Well, which is it - a mistake or a sudden primal urge? A mistake would be, for instance, accidentally getting your arm stuck in some device that forces you to repeatedly punch a homeless guy until he's dead. That's a mistake, and I don't think most juries would convict based on that. A sudden primal urge to beat some stranger to death for no reason is something which merits a life sentence in prison, however.

[walford]

...were I homeless, I would definitely be packing. And, when the good times turned to senseless attempted murder, I would laughingly blow the little retards away. Then, move on.

Firearms tend to be expensive and thus the homeless will be the least likely to be armed. Besides, as the article I quoted also noted, the homeless tend to be over-represented in the ranks of substance abusers and the mentally ill.

Well, which is it - a mistake or a sudden primal urge?

Tragically, neither of those characterizations acknowledge personal responsibility -- nay, GUILT. You are what you do, kiddo, not who you 'feel' you are.

As has already been noted, the natural confidence and exuberance of young males can easily degenerate into self-centeredness and cruelty w/o proper guidance. What I truly dread is the all-too-familiar reaction of casting these perpetrators as victims of a harsh society that 'forced' them to do what they did. If they were members of an anointed Victim Group, that would be all but guaranteed.