My heart just breaks for the family of Jessica Ridgeway, the 10-year-old girl who disappeared earlier this month when walking to school in Colorado. Tragically, her body was found a few days later in a park.
The killer? A 17-year-old boy who is also charged with the attempted kidnapping of a 22-year-old woman this past May.
One of the things always looked at in cases like this is the personality of the perpetrator. This teen was described as quiet, shy, wore black clothing and pretty much kept to himself.
Another story heavy on my heart is the death of Autumn Pasquale, just 12 years old. She was killed by 15 and 17-year-old brothers, one of which was in special education. To make matters even more disturbing, a Facebook page that was created in her honor received a “like” (thumbs up) from one of the killers. Sick.
In both cases, considerations are being made as to whether or not these teens will be charged as adults. I recently read about an editorial in which the writer seriously questioned the Supreme’s Court decision to ban mandatory life sentences for teens that kill.
Not that the writer felt it was wrong. No, this editorial was written in the defense of the decision but indicated it wasn’t enough. The next step should be a ban on life-without-parole.
The reason? Teens are not fully developed, intellectually or emotionally. So they don’t always realize the consequences of their decisions.
I can see the point in this if you are talking about a teen who decides to take up a dare and jump off a cliff. But I cannot see this being a defense to the taking of someone’s life.
It is true that the brain continues to develop during the teen years. They oftentimes make decisions based on a whim, without really considering the possible outcome. But killing someone? This goes a little deeper.
It is so disheartening to hear stories of teens committing such atrocious acts. While I won’t bother to give my opinion on what the punishment should be, I will say that we need to seriously think about the increasing number of violent cases involving teens and ask ourselves if there is something in society that we could be doing different.
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Photo by kathycsus in Flickr