I was reading this story:

http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou061211_ac_turnertrial.1a991b54.html

And what drew my attention for a good debate is the age of the defendent, 17.  I was wondering...at what age do we charge kids for adult crimes?  If 17 is still not an adult in other places (smoking, gambling in places without alcohol, driving unsuspended) then why is it different in the court system?  If an age requirement is arbitrary then can the benefits of turning older also be given to younger people based on arbitrary values we assign?  For example, let's say a 12 y/o is really smart and has a "good head on his shoulders"...can we allow him to drink?  Can an 8 y/o girl strip for money to feed her starving family?  Can the 14 y/o have sex with the 60 y/o because she's in college because she's "like totally smarter than High School"?

This isn't the only story when children are charged with crimes.  In fact in MI, a few years ago there was a heated debate on whether to charge a 12 y/o as an adult.  If kids who are 10 can rape 8 year old girl and 8 year old who can bring guns to school and shoot their kids do those acts...how do we charge them?  Also someone who is charged as a child when he's 17 gets out at 21...if you murder 72 people and are charged as a child; your main punishment is 4 years in Juvy.  Is that just?  Or just how the system works?

To boil down my question it would be something like the following:
Is charging children under the age of 18 as adults right or wrong?  Why?  If yes, why do we not do this for other "benefits"?  If no, what do we do with them?

X
(I'll hold my comments and beliefs until later)

LOL Briney that made me literally LOL!

Well either you're a very radical puritan (all they did was brand people) or an orthodox Muslim.

If you were the Bush administration you'd write the Crayola act that makes all acts of stealing crayons terrorism and put the kid in an "internment camp" without trial or representation....or without his juice box.

X

If a kid murdered 72 people, it would be madness to let them off with only four years.  I heard a story on Oprah , in April, 2005 a little black kid was getting picked on by a bigger white kid and the black kid took out his baseball bat and killed the bigger kid.  The black kid was 13, and I think he is still in jail.
I found this article at CNN.com
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/14/baseball.killing/index.html

Quote:



I checked with the local magistrate about getting out of a ticket if the officer does not wear his hat.  Its false.

-Stick-