It's offensive to the sensibilities of most normal, decent people to even think about executing a child, and with good reason. We tend to find that most serious criminal conduct on the part of children can be traced very easily back to their parents. When they're as young as eight years old, there's also the good question of whether or not they can even understand what they did.
That said, consider some of the news reports about the eight year old who recently shot his father and his father's friend. For example, here they ruled out the possibility of abuse by the father:
A .22 caliber rifle is also not a weapon that is good for hunting anything bigger than a squirrel or for defending yourself against anything other than a small or medium-sized dog. It's closer to a CO2-powered pellet gun than the man-killing assault rifles featured breathlessly in the media. Put another way, the average sidearm carried by a cop is like a portable canon in close range quarters like in a house, compared to a .22 caliber rifle.
Suffice it to say, if this boy hunted down and killed two grown men with a bolt-action rifle, chances are pretty good that he's a sociopath and so messed up in the head that it's more of a matter of when he will kill again, not if.
That said, consider some of the news reports about the eight year old who recently shot his father and his father's friend. For example, here they ruled out the possibility of abuse by the father:
An 8-year-old Arizona boy charged with premeditated murder in the deaths of his father and another man shot each victim at least four times with a .22-caliber rifle, methodically stopping and reloading as he killed them, prosecutors said Monday.Then, there's this evidence and testimony:
Although investigators initially said they thought the boy might have suffered severe physical or sexual trauma, they have found no evidence of abuse, said Roy Melnick, the police chief in St. Johns, Ariz., where the shootings occurred. Psychologists say such abuse is often a factor in the extremely rare instances in which a small child murders a parent.
Each man was shot several times with a single-shot, bolt-action .22-caliber rifle.Let me break it down for those who don't know much of anything about firearms. The boy used a single-shot, bolt-action rifle. That means that every single shot that went into his victims had to be loaded methodically. There was no semi-automatic "bang, bang, bang" that allowed it to "just happen." Rather, he had to load a round, take aim, fire, repeat, at least four times.
His grandmother told police that if any 8-year-old was capable of the crimes, it was him. Police reports say the boy told a state Child Protective Services worker that his 1,000th spanking would be his last.
A .22 caliber rifle is also not a weapon that is good for hunting anything bigger than a squirrel or for defending yourself against anything other than a small or medium-sized dog. It's closer to a CO2-powered pellet gun than the man-killing assault rifles featured breathlessly in the media. Put another way, the average sidearm carried by a cop is like a portable canon in close range quarters like in a house, compared to a .22 caliber rifle.
Suffice it to say, if this boy hunted down and killed two grown men with a bolt-action rifle, chances are pretty good that he's a sociopath and so messed up in the head that it's more of a matter of when he will kill again, not if.
Its hard to believe an 8 year old could do this. It does say a lot when you consider the type of gun.
My home state does not have the death penalty, but I wish it did.
Apparently his grandmother believed him to be more than capable of such a thing. In fact, if that quote is accurate, she seems to have a very low opinion of her grandson in that respect. She's probably that way based on good reason.
I am always amazed when someone is killed with a .22 caliber weapon. Short of an incredible first shot, the chances are HIGH that the wound is not fatal or even incapacitating. How does one get off that many shots without being taken down?
Must be a combination of surprise and shock and a bit of denial thrown in for good measure.
If the kid is proficient with a .22, he could probably get two shots off before his father could react. By the time his dad got anywhere near him, he probably got in at least one more good shot. For a lot of people, having 3-4 .22 rounds hit them would be enough to cause them to lose themselves.
I am always amazed when someone is killed with a .22 caliber weapon.
Aim for the head. Even a .22 can kill if it enters the body at the right place.
I realize that. But so very often deaths from .22s are multiple shots, not a marksman taking single head shots.
And the boy killed TWO grown men. Were they together? I havent read anything on it (sometimes ignorance really is bliss) so I don't know. But two men together should not be getting taken down like that.
It took the kid about four shots per adult, which I think rules out a good head kill shot.
I very much agree with your conclusions. This kid should be locked up, at least, for the safety of others, if for no other reason.
I'm surprised that you came out for the death penalty on this, Mike, given your mistrust of the porcine in our midst. Certainly my support for Mosaic eye-for-an-eye stuff is tempered by the unjust nature of our State.
One wonders if the "abuse" defense would have been so quickly dismissed had the child been female or worse, an adult woman.
If the defense can prove that he didn't do it, then I'll change my mind. However, his own grandmother seemed to be of the opinion that he was perfectly capable of killing two grown men without batting an eye.
The reason I support the death penalty is that people like this kid need to be removed, and the death penalty is a cost-effective, safe way of doing that. I will say that we are in agreement about needing to temper our sense of justice WRT the state of our government, but in this case, so far, it's pretty clear that this kid is a homicidal menace.
Had it been a little girl, who knows. I think it would have been a lot easier to make the case that she deserved the death penalty here because gunning down two grown men with a s-s .22 is a very deliberate act. A child would have to be either the spawn of Satan or protecting a loved one from the spawn of Satan to make them be able to go through the process of firing closing in on a dozen rounds into two unarmed people. I actually think that the prosecutor would have a pretty easy time explaining to a jury (and convincing them) that the kid is a total f#$%ing sociopath, given the weapon used.
Wow, how very sad.
I wonder what action will follow suit with this case...
I'm very glad I don't have to call this one!
Sounds either spoiled, or insane. Either way, no excuses should be made.
hes eight....
if your going to put him to death you have no morals...
give him help not put him to death you bastereds
He hunted down and killed two grown men with a .22 rifle. A .22 rifle is so weak that a little girl his age could survive a chest shot from it, provided that the shot wasn't to her heart. Killing someone in cold blood with a .22 rifle is like stabbing someone to death with a butter knife. It is such a slow, inefficient and deliberate means of killing someone that you have to have well above and beyond the level of psychological help to do it.