9 year old boy was accused of shooting his fellow third grade classmate on Wednesday. The story is the 9 year old boy stole a .45- caliber gun from his moms house and put it in his backpack and brought it to his elementary school. Right before classes was about to be let out the gun discharged from inside of his backpack hitting and injuring his classmate Amina Kocer-Bowman. As of now Amina is in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center where she has to go threw couple surgery and will likely stay in the hospital for several weeks.
The 9 year old boy bail was set to $50,000 and if they payed the bail the boy will be released and will be placed on house arrest and will be forced to live with his uncle.
"Todd Dowell of the Kitsap County prosecutor's juvenile division said under state law, children between 8 and 12 years old can face charges if a court determines the child has the capacity to understand an act is wrong."
There has also been other cases like this as in 2000 a 6 year old was fatally shot by her classmate who also brought gun from their house and brought it to school but the kid was not charged with anything because he was too young to be held responsible.
I believe $50,000 bail and house arrest seems like a reasonable punishment in my opinion.
So how do you guys feel about this? Do you think the punishment is reasonable?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/02/22/national/a141708S93.DTL
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I understand the need for a harsh punishment to act as a deterrent, but still I personally feel that this punishment is a bit harsh. Mainly, it seems that the bail is rather high. However, I would understand it more if that was court ordered payment toward the treatment of the girl rather than simply bail money. Hopefully, there will an investigation as to why the child was able to bring the gun to school. This seems to be partially the fault of the mother for being absent-minded.
I still have many questions.. like Why did the boy bring the gun in the first place? Was there a motive? Or was it another one of those cases where video games have become a reality to this boy? I agree with Wienbar in that the punishment did seem a bit harsh given his age and the "accidentally".
Digging a bit further, the story comes more to light. Clearly, this kid is from a broken home – mother has been convicted of drug crimes, the dad is a deadbeat - the boy was living with his uncle when this happened. Either way, the punishment seems to be more directed at the parents for allowing the child to obtain a gun. I agree with Robert that the bail is fitting, but as Sophia said, something should be done towards the victim’s medical expenses. As for Crystal’s questions, we will definitely know more after the capacity hearing, and whether or not this boy knew the implications of his actions.
This is crazy! I understand the high bale and I believe this is a totally reasonable price.
What I can't believe is that the gun was in such a place that he could get it that easy! And how did the mother not see it? I believe the gun should have been placed somewhere where no child should have been able to obtain it. Somewhere that is locked and up high.
I also have to ask the question of why he brought it to SCHOOL of all places. I have to think that he must of thought it was "cool" or something. This makes me think that schools need to inform their kids more about gun safety. Health class is a perfect opportunity for this! Maybe kids should start learning earlier or for a longer period of time?
Schools need to take action now. This child was lucky, at least he didn't die, but you never know what could happen next. But if children aren't educated right maybe the victim might not be so lucky next time.
Post a Comment