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Yeah, I saw this, and it made me very sad for our future...kids today commit violence as if there are no consequences....it's amazing to see it, but it's also a reminder that ANYONE can be a BG...even teenagers wearing school uniforms. It's a very sad time.....

They commit violence as if there are no consequences because there are no consequences.

We live in a society where personal responsibility is all but gone. We refuse to hold individuals accountable for their own actions and instead blame "society" or "the system" or some other nameless, faceless, entity. When these boys go to court, they will be defended as good kids who grew up in a rough neighborhood and under hard socioeconomic circumstances. That argument will probably work. I can hear the attorneys arguing that those boys did not make the choice to commit murder, that choice was made by the neighborhood they were born into, and it is probably the school system's fault too. Not quite sure how the school system will come into the arugment, but I am not an attorney.
If a kid steals something, it is because he is poor and a victim of society. If he is behind his class, it is because the educational system is letting him fall behind. If he gets his girlfriend pregnant, it is because he was not taught about birth control. I could go on and on. The only thing that is truly wrong in our society is to criticize. I can go out and break every one of the ten commandment and that is my lifestyle choice, but if you criticize me for it, you are intolerant. The problem is you, not me.
Sorry folks, everyone is not a winner. Everyone does not get a trophy. There are millions of teens and young adults right now, who are more poorly prepared to run the world than any pervious generation. Perhaps one day accountability will return. I won't come soon enough for me.

I am certain that some day personal responsibility will return. My problem is that until it does, we're going to be getting deeper and deeper in ugliness. My personal prediction is that we have not hit bottom yet and the road is going to be long and painful. I get tired of all the excuses I hear for these "bad" kids. I long for the days when a school could administer corporal punishment without fear of lawsuits, when a "fight" at school didn't mean a death, when the system wasn't so corrupt that more parents are afraid of their children than the other way around.

The personal responsibility has to got to lie squarely on the shoulders of the parents as well. Broken home or not. You made the child, now make it a responsible child. Set limits and boundaries. Set consequences for actions and stick to them. I will not tolerate my children being abusive or mean to others. That is not how they have been raised, and that is not how they will behave. Do they slip up? Sure. Do they challenge my authority from time to time? Sure. That's part of growing up and learning the boundaries. But the bottom line is that I run the show. Not them. It also means that I have to give them the leeway to make mistakes and learn from them. I'll try to keep the mistakes small and the lessons large.

When my youngest was thirteen he really decided to push the boundaries. I took him out into the garage and had a little heart to heart with him. I said, "Son, I love you. Thirty years ago, my father was sitting next to me having this exact same discussion. Don't think you are the first to deal with these types of problems, and don't think you'll be the last. In thirty years, you may be having this same discussion with your son. A discussion like this means that I love you and I care about what is going on in your life. Now let's talk about how you've been behaving........"

I also try to lead by example. I try to have patience. I try to have understanding. I try to have tolerance.

My apologies for the diatribe, but with three teenagers, seeing how the schools are and parents can be, it is a bit of a sore subject. Far too many o fthese kids have too much of a sense of entitlement.

The last defendant to be tried as an adult in this case was sentenced to 32 years in prison today.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... 2027.story" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Two other defendants received comparable sentences and one got off easy with 26 years. Probably this is some sentencing guideline that I am not aware of. That's a long sentence for a first-time offender, even for murder.

- Jim

Glad to see justice served in this case. I am surprised that they did not get probation. None of this will help the poor kid that they killed, but may have some preventive effect on others who would do the same thing.

Rikk101 wrote:None of this will help the poor kid that they killed, but may have some preventive effect on others who would do the same thing.

Unfortunately, it probably won't have a deterrent effect.

This incident was a "Lord of the Flies" type of situation. Kids (using the term loosely) in that environment don't think.

These guys maintained their innocence and went for jury trials. They were found guilty. Probation is rarely an option in those cases.

In some completely unrelated cases, I'm aware of defendants who declined 10-year plea bargains, went for jury trials, and were sentenced to 20 to 50 years.

If these particular "yutes" survive their time in the Joliet academy of higher criminal education, they probably will not be so foolish as to get themselves on video committing felonies. Also they won't bend over to pick up soap that they dropped in the shower.

- Jim

seamusTX wrote:If these particular "yutes" survive their time in the Joliet academy of higher criminal education, they probably will not be so foolish as to get themselves on video committing felonies. Also they won't bend over to pick up soap that they dropped in the shower.

Unless they watch MSNBC.

Violence is seldom the answer...But when it is the answer...it is the ONLY answer.

This is only one of the reasons I carry.

I can't comment on the attack, because I refuse to watch the video.

I remember lamenting the loss of societal limits long, long ago when I read the story about a man that beat another man to death over a pack of cigarettes.

I fear for my grandson and great grandson (actually I fear for all my children). There is already a lot of minor violence around them, and we are doing everything we can to stem the tide in their lives.

This kind of mindless violence has been going on forever. Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, and Vlad the Impaler didn't go down in history for their restraint and diplomacy. Less than 100 years ago people were having picnic lunches at lynchings and sending photos of the victims to their friends and relatives.

It just gets more play now because of cheap video cameras and the internets.

- Jim

seamusTX wrote:This kind of mindless violence has been going on forever. Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, and Vlad the Impaler didn't go down in history for their restraint and diplomacy.

They sorta did... They're famous for their lack of restraint and diplomacy. And not to condone their actions, but they at least had reasons for their atrocities.

I have a younger daughter that, when she comes of age, will be taking some discipline of the martial arts. As I can't, unfortunately, be there for her 24/7 the rest of her life, what I can give her can be.

Dave2 wrote:

seamusTX wrote:This kind of mindless violence has been going on forever. Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, and Vlad the Impaler didn't go down in history for their restraint and diplomacy.

They sorta did... They're famous for their lack of restraint and diplomacy. And not to condone their actions, but they at least had reasons for their atrocities.

Yeah. They wanted something that wasn't theirs.