Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Virginia Boy to be Tried as an Adult

The Washington Post reports on another case of trying a teenager as an adult.

A judge has ruled that a 15-year-old student accused of firing a gun inside a Portsmouth high school will be tried as an adult.

Keith Elliott is charged with underage possession of a firearm, brandishing a firearm and discharging a firearm, one count of breaking and entering while armed with a deadly weapon and two counts of discharging a firearm in a school.

A police detective testified in Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court on Monday that Elliott told him he didn't intend to hurt anyone.

The judge watched a video of students running out of the Wilson High School cafeteria after shots were fired on April 28.


I don't know whose bright idea it is to try kids as adults, but it just doesn't make sense. Regardless of the severity of the crime, who could possibly believe that putting a kid into an adult prison will do anything but make matters worse?

In this case it's especially silly. One of the charges is "underage possession of a firearm." What are these people thinking?

Of course, we are talking about Virginia which is giving Texas and Arizona a run for their money as the state with the most backward laws.

Ehat's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

4 comments:

  1. While I don't totally disagree, look at what you are asking.

    You want him tried as a juvenile so in three years he can buy a long gun and in six years be eligible to buy a handgun. If he is tried and convicted as an adult, he is prohibited from any gun ownership forever. Isn't that what you prefer?

    I'll go ahead and get Jade's remarks to this post out of the way:

    1. The NRA was created by satan.
    2. Obviously everyone has a small penis.
    3. Racists!

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  2. Thanks for the laugh. Sometimes that 1,2,3 joke on JadeGold really strikes me as funny.

    Interesting point you raised about my preferring him as a prohibited person for life. Indeed I do, but not like this.

    I suppose if we want states to stop doing this, we need to make some changes in the juvenile system to accommodate the really bad boys.

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  3. "I suppose if we want states to stop doing this, we need to make some changes in the juvenile system to accommodate the really bad boys."

    Generally they used to accommodate them by "trying them as an adult". Now they use that too often and with a "zero tolerance" decision.

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  4. "Regardless of the severity of the crime, who could possibly believe that putting a kid into an adult prison will do anything but make matters worse?"

    I have a solution: Child Prisons.

    It's really coming to that.

    ReplyDelete