Political Crossfire Forums

[lord_jim69]

EightyEight wrote: ToonArmyIsComing wrote: EightyEight wrote: ToonArmyIsComing wrote: nascar46 wrote: That kid knew what he was doing, even though I particularly don't trust drug companies/drugs. He had to have known what he was doing. This is a good example of a "twinkie defense".[/b]

Wasn't he 12 years old when he committed the crime? I don't know if you can fully hold him responsible!

Twelve year olds know what they are doing.

But can they legally be held responsible like an adult? Can they make choices like an adult?

Yes, they can.

really?
so why do we have laws to take away almost all the adult choices that children could make?
Obviously because the government (and most people) realizes that children CANT make decisions or be held responsible like an adult.

so in short.

No, they cant

[lord_jim69]

Lennox wrote: Wasn't the Columbine High School killers on SRI Drugs?

I understand this stuff is being played down how many times people that do these type things are taking SRI drugs. I heard on the news yesterday that at one time on the Zoloft or Prozac web site the makers had claimed that they did not even know how it worked. I personally think there is something to it. My friends son just got a life sentance for killing another kid at a party and he had been taking zoloft and being a college kid, he had been drinking.

In fact what is also being kept quiet is the cases where the drug companies are losing damage claims because of this stuff.

pharmacutical companies hold a lot of power in this society.

[Dima]

Lord Jim, you are correct, pharmacutical companies do hold a lot of power, so who knows what happened.

Another interested question that should be considered, what would his grandparents want if they were given the chance to sentance him? Would they want their childrens child to waste 30 years of his life in a prison?

[Gryff1nd0r]

If somebody killed me, I don't care who they are, I would want them put away for the rest of their lives.

[Jufarius87]

justice definatly was not done this kid was 12 yrs old and was on mind altering drugs..... no way he could be held accountable

[cool]

There's no question that this whole thing is ridiculous.

The fact that he was only 12 alone when he committed the crime should mean he should have a lot less than 30 years.

I've known people who've taken those Zoloft esque medications, and if they are not properly prescribed, they can really mess you up. I've seen people I knew very well act extremely different from being improperly prescribed for Zoloft esque medications.

Now, I definitely don't think he should be acquitted or anything. I feel that he should at-least serve time in a juvenile correctional facility (after all, it was murder). But to try him as an adult? C'mon. The kid was 12.

[thingamabob]

Yellow wrote: Thank god hes not getting away with it.

This is a ridiculous verdict. I can't count the ways this disgusts me.

[Mapmaker15]

Juvinile center for as long as it takes to deam the poor crazy kid is ready to go back. Redemption is a real and believable thing... Just given a good ten to twenty years.

[DBG]

While I agree that the kid has to be punished for what he did, I also agree that at his age he isn't fully responsible for his actions.

His parents are at least as much at fault as he is. If the kid is/was mental they should have paid more attention to that problem and kept him on a tighter leash too.

Here's how it worked: the kid was having puberty trouble - and a lot of kids do - puberty ain't for sissies. Parents these days don't want to take the time (BIG time commitment, that whole kid thing) or be bothered with these problems so they go to the doctor and get a pill. Ritalin -Prozac - and all the drugs in those same groups are WAY over-prescribed, not for the extreme cases in which they may be useful UNTIL THE PROBLEM IS CORRECTED, but for every parent that comes in and says "the kid is rowdy - he disrupts class at school".
Here's your psychotropic drug - have a nice day.

The parents leave all commitment to fixing the problem at that point - doing what it takes AS A PARENT to advise, counsel, nurture, correct, punish, etc their kid into responsible, normal adulthood.

Then the kid does something like this and the parents - who won't accept responsibility because our society doesn't make them - say "whaaaa-a-a? He shot people? Well it's not MY fault!!"

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY has to make a comeback in this country. It just has to. That tort reform crap we hear the POTUS whining for (for 4 years now) is a corporate protection racket - not a solution to a SOCIETAL problem that refuses to make people take responsibility for their actions and screwups and inaction!

I've known a couple of parents who did lousy jobs with their kids and shouldn't have had kids in the first place. From the time the kids were in elementary school I could tell they weren't 'coming up' well, and expected the worst.

One is in jail for 10-15 years due to a drug conviction when he was 17 that just added to a long juvenile record - and of course he didn't graduate H.S.
Another is living on the streets, hooked on crystal. He'll be in and out of jail and rehab for who knows how many years until his miserable life ends on the streets or at the hands of another like him.

If I, as a casual observer of this family dynamic, can see the kids are in trouble and the parents are screwing up badly and TOTALLY in denial about their failure, TOTALLY defensive about it and refusing to accept their screwup, their responsiblity, how can these kids be saved?


One of the Columbine killers assembled bombs in his bedroom. I remember thinking "christ we couldn't have gotten away with that - - my Mom even found the cigarette contraband"!

The kid who shot his grandparents and 7 people at school just last week was troubled, by the reports from friends and teachers. There were signs - alarm bells that were predictable, not unique or even unusual.


When will the PARENTS BE FORCED to take responsibility?
When we put them in the next cell!!!!!

[cap'n queasy]

Do thye know what they are doing when they are under the influence of drugs that alter the mind? Look into how many of these school shootings etc were committied by people who took Zoloft or Prozac.

Practically all of them. There might be something to this.

[ianknows]

damn.. i take zoloft

[Hexagone]

The very fact that this kid was under such heavy medication at 12 should be a reason to consider him as not fully reponsible of his acts and also should bring a lot of questions about the effects of those drugs.

It always amazes me how minors in USA all of sudden become 100 % responsible when it suits justice and institutions...

[chopin1810]

You really have to strech the defendant's testimony quite a bit to get it to make sense.