Earlier this week (Monday) there was a high school shooting in Chardon, Ohio-which is a suburb of Cleveland. Five students were shot and three have died. One is still in the hospital and one has been released to home. A 17 year-old named TJ is the alleged killer. From what I gather he has confessed to the murders. It would be pretty hard for him to deny it. He stood in the school cafeteria and basically just opened fire. They are saying that the shootings are totally random and not a situation of "bullying." However, there have been reports that the girl that he shot was his ex-girlfriend. (They broke up last week) And that one of the boys shot was the girl's new boyfriend. Who knows if there is any truth to that.
(The three shooting victims)
There hasn't been much information given out about this TJ kid, the alleged shooter. It is still early in the investigation, though. From the way it sounds, he wasn't from the most stable home-life. Not that I'm saying its an excuse. What he did is inexcusable. I am from the thought where you try to figure out why he did it in the hopes of preventing it happening again in the future.
A lot of people are saying this TJ should be tried as an adult and given the death penalty. Quite a few of my friends and family feel this way. I do not. I am against the death penalty and have been for about 15 years now. Statistics have shown that its clearly not a deterrent and that it is actually much more expensive to put a person to death than to house them in prison for the rest of their lives. Then of course, you have the margin of error issue. How many innocent people have been put to death. I know of one who almost was...West Memphis Three.
I don't think the shootings in Chardon is at risk for convicting an innocent person. Like I said, this TJ kid pretty much admitted it. I do not think that he should "get off easy" because he is a juvenile or because his may have had a screwed up home life. I do think that these things should be taken into consideration, though.
The whole practice of trying a juvenile as an adult makes no sense to me. If you are under 18 you are a juvenile, if you are 18 you are an adult. Pretty simple. In this country there is no consistency with that. From about the age of 13-17 a lot of kids are charged as adults. That to me is stupid and not justice.
What do I think should happen to this TJ? I don't have any quick-easy answers. And god forbid it were one of my kids that were shot; I may feel totally different about the situation. I may very well want to kill the kid with my own bare hands.
If nothing else, imprison this TJ for the rest of his life. Study him, his childhood, his background, physical and mental health in the hopes of getting some answers. Working on getting answers would be much more productive than just "fry his ass."
In the meantime, I can only image what the survivors, staff, students and their families are going through. I hope to never have to experience something of that magnitude. Hopefully they will all be able to get past this tragedy...but not forget.
And for the parents/family of the murdered-I can only hope that one day they find peace.
0 comments:
Post a Comment