All children have a right to life as American citizens, and a child’s parents are supposed to give the child the necessary support the child needs in order for the child to grow well, be successful and for the child to meet his/her American dream. Children are born without blemish, and have no choice of the families they are born. Children also have minimal chances of influencing their life experiences at an early age. Therefore, parents and the community have the responsibility in reducing child violence and juvenile murder by controlling the media that children access, taking good care of children, reporting any incidents of child abuse, and ensuring proper storage of weapons and arms.
Juvenile Murder Cases
Some early juvenile murder cases that took place before 1980 include 1874 juvenile murder case whereby 14-year-old Jesse Harding Pomery was convicted for the murder of 4-year-old Horace Millen. Clarke et al. give detailed accounts of how Jesse Harding Pomery tortured seven younger boys than him before he committed the murders of Horace Millen and Katie Currran in later years (2011). Another case was in 1944, when George Stinney was executed after he was found guilty of the murder of two young white girls (Dover, 1996). Some cases that that took place after 1980 include Shrout aged 17 who murdered his family in 1994, A hostage scenario setup by 14-year-old Barry Dale Loukaitis in 1996 whereby he ended up killing two students. The mentioned cases have many similarities regardless the time they were committed, most of the children were emotionally disturbed. It is also notable that the method used to commit the murders includes strangulation, stabbing, hitting with blunt objects and the use of guns, there is no preferred method of murder with relation to time.
Schools of Thought
Lorgamy looks at the perspective of the family of the offender’s point of view in comparison to the family of the victim’s point view (2010). The families to the victim argue that a child should be responsible for murder since an individual does not need to reach maturity to comprehend the outcome of murder, their conscience should inform them of the consequences of their actions (, 2010). The victimized families add that a child is able to tell when harm is done upon them therefore, they do harm to others with full knowledge of the consequences of their actions (, 2010). On the other hand, the parents to the offender argue that a child is a child, and that nothing can be done to take away their childish nature until they naturally grow into adults. Therefore, children should never be tried as adults for murder cases because they are not capable of predicting the outcome of their actions nor are they capable of putting thought to their behavior, hence children should be handed neither the death sentence nor the life sentence (, 2010).
Causes of Violent Behavior
Although there are cases of accidental killings by children, these cases are few. Killings by children are caused by circumstances, motivation, trait, or by accident (Ramsland). Circumstances include a child growing up in a violent neighborhood such that the child is exposed to gangs and gang activities, as well as the admiration of violent role models. These children join the gangs due to emotional or financial needs, and participate in gang activities such as robberies, illegal drugs dealings, and other tasks that the gangs require them to do. A child who kills within a family does so from the motivation of hatred, expected gain or on demand by another family member (Ramsland). Ramsland also points out that some killings by children are a result of mental illness, and he gives the example of 15-year-old Sam Manzie who invited 11-year-old Eddie Werner, raped him, and killed him. Manzie was a victim of child abuse and he exhibited signs of mental illness (Ramsland). Kids who decide to kill others in school, are under the motivation of revenge because of previous perceived wrongs done on them, hence this is a closure for them. In 1997, 14-year-old Michael Carneal shot at a group of students thereby injuring 5 and killing 3 using a gun stolen from a neighbor (Armold, 2007). Jesse’s father hit Jesse frequently, and humiliated him even before Jesse started committing crimes (Davis, 2003). Barry Dale Loukaitis was a victim if severe bullying at school, he was urinated on, and shoved into toilets before he decided to take a class hostage and to commit murder (Brunt, 2012). The case of Mary Flora Bell also had cases of child abuse. Mary’s mother was a commercial sex worker, and she exposed Mary to sexual abuse, violence and drugs (Jensen, 2012).
Signs and Symptoms
The abusive acts on children at an early age builds bitterness and rage in them. Frequent and continuous exposure to mistreatment, builds the urge to revenge. Since the child cannot turn his/her anger on the abuser, the child seeks a defenseless victim. Such urge to revenge is evident in Jesse’s animal mutilation and killings at the age of five (Davis, 2010). Davis highlights that Jesse developed hunched shoulders, and walked awkwardly as result of the physical and emotional abuse he received from his father (2003). At school Jesse had frequent daydreams as a way to escape from the bitter reality of his life, he also chose the role of the torturer when playing with other children. Later Jesse played truant. Other symptoms that Jesse exhibited include the urge to start fires and bedwetting into puberty (Davis, 2003). Additional signs of increased risk of violence in children are a history of delinquency and violence, academic problems, a victim of family conflict, drug abuse, psychiatric disorder, involvement in crime and stress or loss, just to name a few (Lester 2004).
Discussion
Davis says that as a young child she witnessed a twelve-year-old boy try to murder a girl over a television program (2003). Davis attributes the boy’s violent behavior to the poor parenting. Davis has a point since the parents were urged by the judge to take the boy to a psychiatrist, but they failed to do so (2003). Davis also adds that the boy’s father was alcoholic who mistreated the boy and his siblings (2003). Therefore, Davis points out that the children who are emotionally abused or physically abused tend to perpetrate violence on other people and in some cases on their own parents (Davis, 2003). Langman points out that the accessibility to guns cannot be sole reason school shootings. He also adds that blaming school shootings on strong medication is not practical as per the claims of Mitchell Johnson, Andrew Golden, and Michael Carneal, since research on their cases does not prove that they were under any form of medication at the time of the shootings (2009). A different case is that of Eric Harris who was taking an anti-depressant called Luvox at the time of the attacks he made at the Columbine High school, but his diary had proof that he had premeditated the attack although he was taking medication (Langman, 2009). Violent media in video games, books, movies, and television, media are often blamed causes of school shootings, but on the contrary several children are exposed to such media and they do not commit such crimes (Langman, 2009). Langman highlights that violent media is not the main cause of school shootings, but the kids who commit the shootings are preoccupied with violence-themed media (2009). Langman substantiates his claim by pointing out that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold internalized the whole dialogue from the Natural Born Killers movie. He adds that Kip Kinkels was obsessed with violent movies such that his parents were concerned, and that Jeffrey Weise had watched the movie Elephant (a movie about a school shooting) with his friends before he carried out a school shooting (2009). Langman concludes that violent media contributes to school shootings through the legitimization of violence, and offering violent role models. Bruce Bartholow a researcher at the University of Missouri argues that the frequent video games playing not only diminishes brain function, but also desensitizes the game player on the severity of violence (Bryant, 2006). Bartholow’s comments may explain some of the role of violent media in desensitizing a child towards committing murder (Bryant, 2006). Hence, violent video games influence some of the players negatively and which is evident in a case whereby two teenagers confessed that they were influenced by a violent game, Grand Theft Auto Three, into carrying out random shootings, ‘just like in the game’. This claim led to the filling of a$ 245 million lawsuit against the video game developer (Bryant, 2006). Violent media also glorifies violence, as a way of getting status, or getting rewards (Langman, 2009).
Determination of Juvenile Murder Cases
Before a trial for murder can commence, the mental state of the child needs to be examined clinically (Cengage, 2009). The court needs to establish the mental state of the offender at the time of committing the crime, and the degree of the offender’s involvement (Cengage, 2009). Lionel Tate’s case was reversed because he had not received a mental evaluation prior to the commencement of the trial therefore, the court could not determine Tate’s mental status at the time of committing the crime (Huss, 2009). Cengage points out that most defense teams use insanity pleas in murder cases especially if there are slim chances of acquitting their client. Most courts make sure that a Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI) offender receives immediate admission at psychiatric facilities regardless of his/her mental state (Cengage, 2009). Such decision was made in the Jones v. United States 1983 case whereby the courts stated that insanity could continue after the crime is committed therefore; the offender should be placed in a mental facility until he/she recovers from the mental condition. reports that the US Supreme court barred the mandatory life sentence in prison without parole for juvenile offenders, to uphold the eight amendment of the constitution, which is against cruel and unusual punishments (2012). The court can also decide to transfer a juvenile’s case from the juvenile court to the adult’s criminal courts depending on the seriousness of the crime committed, the age of the suspect or the efficiency of the juvenile system to rectify the juvenile’s behavior in the past (Vlex).
Reporting and statistics
Heckel argues that the concern on the trend in juvenile homicide presents an area for investigative study, but there is currently limited information on pre-teen murderers (2001). Heckel adds that the information available from federal and state sources fail to group under 18 cases according to age group. In addition, Heckel reports that the available statistics do not have co-relationship details between the attacker and the victim (2001). The other problem is the reliance on newspapers for such information as opposed to scientific evidence (Heckel, 2001). Uniform Crime Report (UCR) and the Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) are the sources that researchers use for information on perpetrators and victims over a certain period of time (Heckel, 2001). The UCR report, Manslaughter and Murder arrests of pre-teens by gender, for the period1984 -1988 shows that the number of males involved was more than the females involved. The details of males are 24, 17, 19, 31, and 31 for the years 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, and 1988 respectively, while female details are 5, 4, 3, 3, and 3 for the years 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, and 1988 respectively (Heckel, 2001). The other UCR report the Sociodemographic Attributes of Pre-teen Homicide Offenders and Homicide trends shows that the number of males involved was more than the females involved and the number of African American children involved was almost twice the number on the white children involved (Heckel, 2001). Heckel concludes that pre-teen (aged below 13) homicide is rare, the rates have been stable over the last 15 years, that African American details are over represented, and that females are more like more likely of guns use and intra-familial homicide compared to boys (2001). Heckel also adds that his speculations need to be confirmed through research, and that pre-teen offenders should be separated from juvenile offenders.
Remedies
Murders by children can be reduced by, first identifying the potentially murderous kids. Some of the clues that Lester proposes include children who threaten others, loners, children targeted by bullies, misfits, children who are interested and have access to weapons, and depressed children (Lester, 2004). After the identification if the high risk children, they should be treated. Lester notes that most school murderers are depressed, therefore, the treatment of their depression could assist them. He also warns that anti-depressant do not often assist since some children have killed while on antidepressants. Lester recommends that depressed children receive medication, psychotherapy, as well as counseling (2004). Lester proposes that schools need redesigning such that they are reduced in size, so that the school has reduced crowding, reduced competition, and so that the teacher-student relationship can be enhanced (2004). Lester further suggests that school safety can be improved by the installation of metal detectors, or trained dogs the curb weapons and drugs from getting into schools (2004). Lastly, the community should take responsibility and play it’s part in reducing child violence by controlling the media that their children access, taking good care of children, reporting any incidents of child abuse, and ensuring proper storage of weapons and arms (Lester, 2004).
References
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