12-year-old boy charged with felony murder and armed robbery

**R8RBOB** · August-20-09, 10:14 AM

Originally Posted by jcole

I saw the quote. I read the quote. The 'child' still used his own reasoning skills to obtain the gun, take it with him and fire it. I'm not saying his parents aren't culpable in this, but the kid is a murderer.

Of course he is a murderer. I'm not saying that. What I am saying is that he does not have the capacity to reason. Reasoning is something a child is not both with. It is taught, just like racism. A parent has to teach a child, book good, gun bad. That's parenting. That boy could learned to carry a gun to rob from watching any R rated movie or music video that his sorry-ass parents allowed him to watch. The question is did his parents tell him that is make-believe. I doubt it.

**jcole** · August-20-09, 10:23 AM

Originally Posted by R8RBOB

Of course he is a murderer. I'm not saying that. What I am saying is that he does not have the capacity to reason. Reasoning is something a child is not both with. It is taught, just like racism. A parent has to teach a child, book good, gun bad. That's parenting. That boy could learned to carry a gun to rob from watching any R rated movie or music video that his sorry-ass parents allowed him to watch. The question is did his parents tell him that is make-believe. I doubt it.

I agree that the parents obviously didn't teach this kid anything good, but following your reasoning, anybody with bad parents should get a pass. At what age does someone spontaneously develop reasoning skills? 13, 18, 21? A kid who is raised in the streets probably understands better than a kid who is sheltered that guns get you what you want and guns kill.

**R8RBOB** · August-20-09, 10:39 AM

Originally Posted by jcole

I agree that the parents obviously didn't teach this kid anything good, but following your reasoning, anybody with bad parents should get a pass. At what age does someone spontaneously develop reasoning skills? 13, 18, 21? A kid who is raised in the streets probably understands better than a kid who is sheltered that guns get you what you want and guns kill.

It is not about giving them a pass. Murder is a no-pass. Once you cross over to killing another human being there is no return. The boy is lost.