Are we [literally] letting our children get away with murder?

Today I pulled the trigger of a gun for the first time in my life. It wasn’t loaded and I wasn’t pointing it at anyone (though the head of the bad dog did cross my mind; had I not been peeing my pants at the moment I may have been able to think clearly enough to readjust my aim).

Mr. J was giving me a SWAT for Dummies 5-minute overview. He sold his bike to a guy who needed his money back  (apparently we’re now in the business of renting bikes to strangers for a few days, if anyone’s interested) and I was instructed to pick the dude off upon his arrival from one of the upstairs windows. The suburbs are getting rough these days.

I blame ObamaNation.

I am not a huge fan of guns or of killing people. I wasn’t brought up pulling triggers or rapping murda murda tunes. So that is why my stomach got a little twisted today (for the second time) when I came across a news story about the Supreme Court rescinding mandatory life-without-parole sentences for convicted murderers who were 14-years old at the time of the crime.

I can’t form a coherent sentence to explain how I feel about this ruling or locking up children for the rest of their lives. Normally, I am an eye-for-an-eye girl. I believe in corporal punishment. For example, when I catch one of the dogs chewing on a stiletto I beat her to a bloody pulp with it. Fair is fair.

However, a part of me wants to believe in rehabilitation in our correctional systems today. I believe if a person truly wants to change and contribute in a positive way to society, and he is provided the resources to make that change, that it has a good chance of happening. But how often does a crack addict/child molester/bank robber really want to turn his life around and go to med school? I require more convincing.

This Surpreme Court ruling arose out of two particular cases. In one, the 14-year-old child and another boy were smoking pot and drinking alcohol with an adult neighbor, when the little criminal beat the adult with a baseball bat, saying, “I am God, I’ve come to take your life.” Then, logically, the boys set the man’s trailer on fire to cover up the crime, and he died from his injuries and smoke inhalation.

Of course this boy had the typical upbringing. Alcohol- and drug-addicted mother. Abusive stepfather. In and out of foster care. Suicide attempts. I’m not surprised. Which is sad.

Though I wonder if we are appropriately punishing a child by sentencing him to incarceration until the day he dies, because he had a crappy life in which he honestly may not have know any better? Or is it our duty to protect society from any further homicidal tendencies he [may? will likely?] have in the future? Can we in good faith place 100% of the blame on the child… or must we, since he clearly knew his actions were wrong as he scurried to set the trailer ablaze to cover it up.

I don’t know about you guys, but had I had killed someone when I was 14, I probably would have ran home crying to my parents to cover it up for me because I wouldn’t have known how.

I worry about raising our son properly so he doesn’t turn into a little monster. But by monster I mean temper tantrums, picking his nose and eating the boogers in public, throwing food, and whipping out his pee pee to take a leak on the playground. Homicidal tendencies hasn’t crossed my mind until now. Is this something else parents today have to worry about? Though I’m hoping as long as I stay away from the crack, don’t beat him (too much), and keep daddy’s “toys” away from his curious fingers, he’ll turn out okay.

Now if only the rest of American parents would be hit with this, “Duh!” moment…

I’m curious to hear other people’s thoughts on this topic. Please leave me your comments!

Images in this post courtesy of Wikipedia.

All Things Unlearned chronicles my journey in unlearning everything I already thought I knew through my experiences as a wife, a mother, and an American through funny, overly-opinionated, witty, sometimes offensive, and yet always entertaining banter. Come be amused.