We’ve long argued in favor of stiffer penalties for criminals in general, and a reassessment of the free passes given juveniles committing serious crimes.
You are just as injured or dead if a 16-year-old does the shooting, stabbing or pummeling as if it had been done by someone 18 and older, the legal cutoff point for adulthood as it pertains to crime.
The recent run of school threats in this area comes to mind as examples where juveniles seem to be emboldened by the relative light punishment. While no one was harmed – yet – these are serious offenses meriting serious punishment.
Along this line of thought, it was encouraging to read a story today from The Tribune-Democrat that a pair of alleged shooters in Moxham will be charged as adults.
Many shots were fired. One person reportedly was hit, although not injured seriously. One alleged shooter was listed as 15 years of age and the other, 17. Both are under the customary 18-year-old cutoff, but can be charged as adults due to the severity of their crimes.
Congratulations to District Attorney Greg Neugebauer for exercising that option.
The names of those being charged were reported as Deion Alex Sanders and Rahmeen Green. It will be interesting to see in follow-up reports whether the pair are domestic or imported.
According to the story, both are in jail having failed to post bond.
No doubt, soon we will hear appeals for leniency based on unfortunate home lives, traumatic experiences, societal failures and the like. These should be ignored considering the severity of the actions these two are alleged to have taken, which reportedly are supported by surveillance camera video.
Again, well done to those who chose to charge the pair as adults.
While teenage violence has become more widespread than in the past, it is not an entirely recent phenomenon.
Biblical scholars cited on Christianity.com have calculated that David was 15, maybe 13, when he killed Goliath. Yet only David among the Israelite warriors was brave enough to confront the giant Philistine.
And he used only a sling and stone. David might have preferred a 9mm semiautomatic handgun, the weapon of choice for many present-day assaults. But, in another calculation, this by ballistics types, the stone as hurled using the sling was thought to have the stopping power of a modern .45-caliber handgun.
Take one of those between the eyes and it can ruin your entire day.
Most consider David’s act righteous. But it also was violent. And he was far from being an adult.
For yet another example, consider the American Wild West period and the aptly named Billy “The Kid.” Billy (William Bonney was his alias; given name Henry McCarty) killed his first man when he was just short of 18 years of age and was said to have killed 21 before reaching the age of 21, when he himself was gunned down.
The law wasn’t treating Billy as a juvenile. He was caught once and sentenced to hang, but escaped, killing two deputies in the process.
When Billy was encountered again, he was killed by sheriff Pat Garrett, thereby avoiding any further escape problems.
Punishing criminals severely once worked in this country. It can work again, given the will to do so.
Sam Ross Jr's site 