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nils wrote:Plenty of sane people go around killing in cold blood....I'd say the majority of killers are sane....legally.

I agree with what you say in the "legal" sense. Unfortunately, I think sanity, or lack thereof, has been used to pervert the justice system. I don't buy the politically correct bull about someone's background, upbringing, drug use, playing video games, the devil made me do it, or whatever, being an excuse for taking human life. The local news has already reported all the reasons why this was a tragedy for the kid as well...he was a Katrina evacuee, in and out of Juvee, family struggles, blah, blah, blah.

Does it explain it or provide motive? Perhaps...but in my opinion, that's insane! (not in the "legal" sense I understand)

Should it absolve that person from responsibility of his actions? No way. And, in the rare case that someone could convince me that a person in a similar situation was actually legally "cuckoo for coco puffs," and they couldn't have possibly known what they were doing or the outcome of their actions, well then, that goes back to my earlier post about this being a symptom of the larger problem of education. Schools are expected to, and in most cases legally bound to, educate practically EVERYONE that graces their door at the expense of others within the system.

Keith B wrote:This is a tough situation. A lot of these kids are pretty troubled that are in the special needs programs.

This incident is evidence of the larger problem that schools face; that is, our schools have become responsible for EVERY aspect of not only educating, but in most cases, raising kids at whatever expense to the system or those within it. No doubt that this kid had "issues", mental, emotional and/or social. That's an easy case to make. Sane people don't go around stabbing and killing in cold blood.