Thou Shalt Kill- But Only If You're Under 18

I question the purpose of having a law on the books that makes murder illegal. After all, this law certainly is not taken seriously in this country, along with many other so called 'indictable' crimes. This week, it was announced that a teen who killed another teen who had been protecting a pregnant friend would be receiving a 64-month sentance for the murder. He was convicted of manslaughter. In my opinion, if you have a knife and stab somebody repeatedly with it, that's not manslaughter as you obviously intended serious harm. That's second degree murder. They boy who was killed was unarmed and outnumbered too. Of course the killer's friends were highly delighted with the linient sentance. The person convicted, a Kimo George who is 18, will likely be out by his 21st birthday.

Once again, this brings the Youth Criminal Justice Act into serious question. It's not like a 16 year old does not know that a knife can seriously harm or kill somebody. It's not like the killer did not know that killing another person is wrong. So why are these youth being treated as if they didn't know? When a youth committs a summary crime, that's forgivable but not with an indictible crime. Youths charged with indictable crimes should be treated as if they were adults, and should be given adult charges and adult sentences. I do agree that those under 18 should serve in youth facilities. In adult facilities, impressionable youth can easily pick up the tricks of the criminal trade from their fellow inmates and fall into a life of crime. However, we must stop using the age excuse. If a kid does not know that indictable crimes are wrong by that age, perhaps they should be in a mental institution instead. It's also time to end this protection of names from the media by youths who commit criminal offences, as the public has the right to know.