November 30, 2019
01) ‘Extremely uncommon’: 9-year-old charged with murder after 5 die in Illinois fire
Thanks to feinmann0!
“CHICAGO — First-degree murder charges lodged against a 9-year-old child in a central Illinois mobile home fire that killed five people are a shocking revelation that experts say goes against international recommendations — and the state’s own history of juvenile justice reform.
Chicago-based juvenile defense lawyer Gus Kostopoulos called the charges “extremely uncommon.”
“I don’t remember any cases of a child this young being charged with murder going back 20 years,” Kostopoulos said.
The child will also be charged with two counts of arson and one count of aggravated arson, Woodford County State’s Attorney Greg Minger told the Peoria Journal Star on Tuesday.
The April 6 fire killed a 1-year-old, two 2-year-olds, a 34-year-old man and a 69-year-old woman near the town of Goodfield, about 150 miles southwest of Chicago. The victims died of smoke inhalation.
Woodford County Coroner Tim Ruestman said that the fire was started intentionally, the Star reports.
…
On Tuesday, the United Nations released its first-ever study of children deprived of liberty. The report recommends that no child under the age of 14 should be prosecuted for a crime.
9-year-old charged with murder in Illinois
So, yet another example of America’s twisted logic: a child of 9 is treated as an adult when it comes to murdering others, but deemed too young to enjoy a consensual relationship with others.”
It’s a very old issue of discussion, but…yes…I also recognize this sort of thing as social hypocrisy.
If you refuse to acknowledge responsible autonomy in someone…how do you turn around and severely punish them, for something like this?…Don’t you still believe they were somehow oblivious, and hence, inculpable?
Personally…at age nine, I could have understood the possible consequences of starting a fire in a bad place…I could also understand the ramifications of death, and killing people.
Maybe that’s just me…Maybe I’ve always been a bit advanced in some ways, for my age and time…and maybe that’s why I’ve often been at odds with the culture around me.
Was I a freak of an “old soul”, who had intuitions and comprehensions that my childhood peers normally lacked?
…or are more children psychologically sophisticated, than what society recognizes?
