--- colin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I really do not undertsand the American legal
> system.
> A 14 year old was tried as an adult for a crime he
> committed as a 13
> year old.
Trust me when I say that we here in America do not
fully comprehend the CURRENT British legal system
either ... the one where 2 juveniles who tortured a
toddler to death are released on their 18th birthday
-- for no apparent other reason than their having
lived long enough to suit the legal statute.
What we much prefer, and have largely copied, was
Britian's own Imperial justice system. Something
about it's Draconian nature appealed to the Puritan
spirit in us.
We've put people in stocks for public ridicule.
Insisted for the majority of our history as an
independent nation, not only on capital punishment,
but public execution. These are just a few of the
trappings which were informed by British monarchical
rule -- not to mention it's traditions of extended
incarceration for petty offenses.
What we've recently added to this Medieval mix was the
notion that an "adult action must proceed from an
adult consciousness." Once you accept this
fundamental premise, it's quite a simple matter to
treat a 13-year-old murderer as if he/she were a fully
developed adult.
You and I may not agree with it ... but it's the way
things have, somewhat sadly, become.
Don Rowe
=====
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