General Discussion

I think it's horribly nasty what those kids did, just like many of the things I saw kids do, and many of the things that were done to me. But it's also horribly nasty to hold a 13-year-old to the same standards as an adult. They can't vote, drink alcohol, or engage in other adult behaviors for a reason. Our brains don't even fully develop until we're 25. What sense does it make to assume that they are completely set and beyond the hope of intervention? Particularly given that many bullies (not all of them) behave that way because it is the behavior that has been modeled to them--often they are verbally and physically abused at home. More viciousness is not going to teach them empathy.

I feel this reflects a larger problem in our society, namely our thirst for retributive justice in all circumstances. Young people do stupid, insensitive, destructive things--like being involved in a fatal car accident due to careless behavior, or even vandalizing something--and though they are often consumed with remorse, or capable of learning and growing from their mistake--though there are a hundred ways that their punishment could be structured in a way that would heal the victims and allow the transgressors to ultimately benefit the society they have wronged, our solution is to throw them in prison for an interminably long time, because it makes us feel better in the short term. We have a system set up in such a backwards way that the legal risk of offering a sincere apology for such mistakes precludes the moral and social benefit of doing so.

There are better ways than this. It is time to move towards restorative justice.