Cali. wants spanking to be illegal. Blind_IO last seen cursing parents, wallowing.

I'm not saying that a kid who commits a crime is free from responsibility, but sentencing that kid to 25-life is not justice. Whatever you guys may think, the medicine backs me up. Feel free to research it yourself. I have years of clinical experience and training, much of it with teens. It is easy to say now that teens have or don't have certain abilities, many times they do a good job of acting like adults but if you scratch the surface you might see what is really going on. Everything is much bigger and more dramatic for a teen. Small problems are the end of the world; even if the kid won't admit, what we adults see as minor problems cause much more emotional and physical distress on a teen. The prefrontal cortex isn't developed yet, but they are beginning to mature and understand the world at large; without the mechanisms in place to mediate and reduce the discomfort and distress from this flood of exposure they don't have the ability to comprehend the gravity and depth of the most severe consequences to their actions.

As much as you may scoff, you too went through this process. Because of your parents, your social support, your environment or other factors you, like most kids, made it through this trying time just fine. However, in rare circumstances, the right combination of factors come together with tragic results. My point is that while it is important that someone this young be punished for his actions, his mind is still forming and locking him up for life is not justice, it's vengeance. Kids like this need help, not to be locked away until they are 40. A sentence like that grantees that when he does get out of prison he will be completely incapable of functioning in society.

Good crap, I thought I was supposed to be the Evil hardass around here.
 
most teens are stupid, especially when under large amounts of emotional stress.
Well, that is true. But you don't have to be that stupid, I've been involved in relations with friends of a teen nature for years (I am a teen at the moment, I'm eighteen), and I have never heard such a stupid thing as the suicide-thing.

Heaven forbid somebody take responsibility for their actions.
Heaven forbid we give them the same rights as us.

I'm not saying that a kid who commits a crime is free from responsibility, but sentencing that kid to 25-life is not justice.
I agree. There is a difference between a 15yo and a 25yo. Fact.

Good crap, I thought I was supposed to be the Evil hardass around here.
Bah, never a bad thing to improve. :tease:
 
I'm not saying that a kid who commits a crime is free from responsibility, but sentencing that kid to 25-life is not justice.
Luckily for the kid, criminals don't even spend 15 years of a life sentence actually in prison. :rolleyes:
 
mms://cs11.core-streaming.com/napcan/napcan-95-second.wmv

Some campaign in Australia...

Children See, Children Do is NAPCAN's first campaign promoted through Child Friendly Australia. Launched during National Child Protection Week '06, this challenging and inspirational television commercial raises adults' awareness as to how impressionable children and young people really are, and challenges them to role model only positive behaviour.
 
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