I do agree with you to a certain point. People, no matter what age, should be held accountable for their actions. I am, under no uncertain terms, saying that this boy should get off scott free. However, I can also tell you that there is a VAST amount of difference between a 16 yr old, and an 8 yr old. There is even a vast amount of difference between a 10 yr old and an 8 yr old. I think this boy does not/did not have the emotional maturity to understand the consequence of his actions. If he did do this, there is definitely something wrong with him, and he needs to be both punished and evaluated as to why he did this. Which brings me to the crux of my opinion of this discussion: 1. He did not receive the proper LEGAL representation that is afforded citizens who are under suspicion of a crime. I do not care what the police say, I am sure there is a certain amount of CYA going on there, but you cannot have it both ways. You(not you personally, but people in general) cannot say that he was not looked at as as suspect, but as a victim, and that is why he was interviewed alone, but then ALSO state that the police already knew about the telephone call with Tim and his wife, as well as the other witness statements BEFORE going into the interview with the boy. Some here have stated that the police KNEW he was lying and were trying to get him to confess. IF they knew he was lying already, the interview should have been stopped, and he should have received legal council, or at the very least, a child advocate. EVERY US citizen is entitled to as much, and he should have been given that. 2. If he is guilty, and I will admit that it is looking more like he is, based on the evidence we DO have, then I want to know why he did this. In order for society as a whole to prevent further situations like this, society needs to know what is going wrong that children are killing their parents, parents are killing their children, etc. We need to not ONLT punish, but to determine why this is hapening, and only then will we be able to help those that need help, so there are not situations like this. That is why I feel for this boy, as well as for the victims, and the families of the victims. There is a reason WHY he did this. It may not fit into our idea of right and wrong, but there is a reason, and psychiatrists are going to have to get that out of this boy, in order to help him. I do not feel that sex offenders can be rehabilitated and released. I do not have an opinion on killers, but I tend to think that they also, cannot be rehabilitated. What I hope is that we can figure out why people do these things and try to help them before they attack, or be able to better look for signs of mental illness. This boy is mentally ill if he did this, and that is why I pity him. He has ruined not only his father and fathers friends lives, but their families, the boys family, the communities, and his own. Very, very sad, and if we just point fingers and call names, we are perpetuating the hatred.
I think the entire situation is tragic. But as far as feeling more sympathy for him or feeling more hope for his rehabilitation because of his age, I am not sure I feel the same way. The result of his actions are the same regardless of his age. The widow of the roommate and her children are not going to have the damage to their lives mitigated because the killer was a child.
It is horrifying to think that someone can be this far "off" at such a young age, but lets say he is rehabilitated and released at 18 or 21 with a sealed record. Do you want your son rooming with him at college, sharing an apartment, do you want your adult daughter dating him? If the answer is no you don't really think he can be rehabiliated either. Short of there being a reason he was desperate enough to do something this horrible, which does not appear to be the case from the interviews, it is not a gamble I really want to take.
And as far as we have to feel sympathy for him and wonder how he got this way, at what age do we stop doing that? If he was 16 and gunned two people down do we still need to know what happened and feel sympathy for him? What if he was 22? Most sex offenders have a horrific story of their own, most of them start offending before they are capable of understanding the damage they cause in their wake.... what is the age cut off for rehabilitation and sympathy? I guess I don't share in the great faith in humanity that everyone has the potential to be a better person. I tend to think sometimes the wiring is just messed up, just like any other living creature.
