I would say that here is where we actually differ. Because I look at this video and I just don't see the signs of a premeditated murder, or the idea that they discussed this at all beforehand.
I'll admit this freely: I think one or more of them talked about jumping someone if they encountered a viable target. I have no basis to state this in reality. And I very well could be wrong. I am biased because, where I live, we have groups of teenagers that roam around and slash tires and break into cars. (Which, I'll quickly say, is behavior that can totally be rehabilitated!) Plus, I also assumed that, in order to get a group of
really young kids together at that hour, at least some of them had to talk about a purpose. Maybe they were headed to the local McDonald's and the ringleader just snapped. That's totally possible. I should be quicker to assign what I believe are probabilities to outcomes when I don't know the objective truth.
(... snipping a lot)
If we want solutions, we have to constantly be vigilant about how we engage with the problems. I think a useful change would be to stop looking for reasons to call these kids monsters. Stop looking for reasons to lump these kids into one group, and start treating violence of the sort we see here as a symptom and owning our part in how we've failed these kids. Because if we don't do that, then the prison reform debate won't ever matter, because prison will continue to be the place we're sending inner-city kids by truckload.
Absolutely. I agree with you 100%. Even if (again, this is based in assumption), the ringleader really has a violent streak, or are willing to condone it, that doesn't
necessarily go for the rest of the kids. But they still felt, for whatever reason, like going out at 2am with someone like that was a good idea. Maybe it was a one-time thing and the aggressor kid just snapped, or maybe he has a history of kicking puppies. I'm sure we'll find out. Either way, it's product of a lot of terrible things, all of which signify that society has failed them.
I wish I had a better answer for you. I just know how we shouldn't talk about it.
Me too. I wish I had answers. I don't want to be part of the problem, and I appreciate the conversation. I know that my knee-jerk reaction to seeing horrific crimes committed is "the perpetrator doesn't belong in society," and for what it's worth, I reserve that to the level of taking another human life (or pushing policies that will inevitably result in death). But it's important to realize and reinforce that society as a whole would be better off if those occasions were much rarer. I think there will always be violent criminals without a shred of conscience... but we can and should do better for children and young adults who feel they don't (and maybe don't, in fact) have options.
