Whatever it ends up being the fact he convinced his younger brother to join him is a huge sign to me.
Respectfully snipped, I don't believe that we know for sure that the older brother did convince the younger brother, do we?
Children do not arise out of a vacuum. Just as parents take credit for successes, they have to take credit for issues.
Ah! Interesting statement, and put that way, makes sense, but I do not take credit for my children's successes. That is all them, what ever they achieve is theirs, I am proud of them and may have even had a hand in helping them along, but they are individuals and the same for the issues (excepting genetics of course).
If by mental problem you mean mental illness I would respectfully disagree. It's possible for a parent with a mental illness to do a great job raising his or her children without any spit ever hitting the fan.
Well said, I agree 100%. Also, children who have issues do not normally "hit a wall" and do what these children did. Clearly this was no "normal situation". Mental illness is genetic too. I have to believe it played a roll, in one form or another here.
For what it is worth, I think that both of the boys were in shock, when talking about the mug shots, especially the older brother, who's first mug shot was posted that day. I was taken off guard when so many started pointing to drugs etc right off the bat (it is completely possible, just so fast to judge). I firmly believe that no one knows what goes on in another family's house, not neighbors, not extended family, not anyone they do not choose to share with.
One other thing, I would be willing to bet that our neighbors think we are "outcasts" and "unsociable", we aren't, but we are not friendly with them, they are cliquish and after attempting to socialize over a couple of years, we decided they were not the people for us. We do socialize, but not within our area, nor will you ever see us outside a lot in public view, we prefer privacy and stick to our back yard and more private areas around our home. We are friendly and wave etc, but aren't friends with our neighbors.