Growing up, the majority of adolescents are taught how to resolve disagreements in a gracious manner, encouraged to analyze all sides of a difference, as well as to find a solution to an issue. But what happens when a disagreement spirals out of control that it leads to a child committing murder? Who is to be held accountable? The one committing the crime, the child. During the years of 1980 through 2008, children under the age of fourteen made up 0.5% of murderers in the United States. Studies have shown children just at the age of eight, know the differences between committing malicious acts and what is the morality of murder is. When a child commits murder, it always tends to be a personal act due to something that may have occurred that caused the child to get upset. In 2016, an eleven-year-old boy shot and killed an 8-year-old girl, because she refused to let him see her puppy. Many children also take advantage of their age, because they believe that their actions may not result them in serving jail time. There have been known cases when underage kid believed that they would avoid serving a jail sentence due to the fact they are still not considered an adult. A child committing a murder always leaves people baffled, but it does happen and they have to take responsibility.
Whenever there are news when a child commits murder it always leads to assume that this child must have suffered a horrific childhood, have had drug addicts for parents, or simply did not hold the mental capacity to know what murder really meant or the consequences for this act, but what people have yet to realize that our brains are already 90% developed by the age of 5; meaning that we can differentiate between pushing another kid to murdering them. A developmental psychologist at Macquarie University, Kay Bussey, decided to conduct an investigation after the case involving a 10-year-old boy who killed his friend in 1998. Kay Bussey and one of her students gathered and studied 132 men and woman from four different age groups, those being between the ages of eight, twelve, sixteen, and adults. Each individual, was presented with various short stories, consisting of criminal acts that demonstrated the endangerments to the persons life was placed under and the other stories consisting with acts that did not cause harm to someone. The study concluded that 8 year olds were just as aware as the older age groups, that the criminal acts where one was endangered were considered unlawful rather than those that did not put ones life in harm. Children are aware of the meaning of murder and are able to tell how it does cause harm to another person.
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Not only do adolescents know the meaning of murder, the majority of the time when they commit the senseless crime it was something personal and planned. Back in 2006, a 12 year old girl, who cannot be named, went on to kill both of her parents and 8 year old brother simply because they did not approve of her relationship. The relationship caused turmoil in the house between the parents and daughter since those were rules set out to her. In order to commit a senseless crime, it takes time and plotting. She was able to produce this hatred towards her family, plot out their murder, and carry on with the attack. At any given time she could have gone with an alternative, as waiting to turn 18 and leaving the house to just accepting the fact that her parents had rules she had to follow. She believed that if she made it seem as if it was a random attack towards her family she would go on and be with her boyfriend, but investigators were able to find evidence of the plotting the girl did in order to carry out the crime without leaving any trace. It takes an immense amount of skill and thinking to know what she was about to do was a crime that had consequences. She was able to convince herself that if she was able to destroy any evidence that lead back to her detectives could not prove she was involved; simply meant she knew the consequences that were responsible to her since she was aware and understood that she was to be held accountable for her crime and what she had done was capital murder.
There have been numerous amount of times, not only does a child try disposing of evidence that cannot lead back to them from a crime but another portion is able to convince themselves since they are not considered an adult, they cannot be charged with murder as an adult. In an episode of, “Killer Kids,” a teenage boy went onto killing his whole family to collect family inheritance believed he would serve a short sentence due to his age, the states age of being considered an adult, making him believe he was not fully held accountable, and would still receive the family inheritance. He should be able to take responsibility for the murders, because when a child is not held accountable for his or her actions they go on and do it again. Who is to say that a couple years from now he will not do the same thing. For every action there is a consequence, no exception should be made for him. He is attempting to take full advantage believing that he can get away with it, he is also aware that what he has done is wrong. One must suffer the consequences for all of our acts.
All in all, whenever we see a person has been murdered we are mortified by the idea that someone did such gruesome act and the one responsible for the crime should be convicted, but once it is revealed a child did it many opinions start to vary. When in reality it should not, when a child goes on to commit murder they should be accountable because they are aware of what they have done. The individual was able to plot and carry on with the act. Just at the age of eight, we can distinguish between a criminal acts that causes harm to an act that is not dangerous to ones life. Being held accountable for our actions is part of everyday life no matter the age. We should learn from our mistakes no matter the age. A child held accountable for murder is effective in order for it not to happen again, since they are aware of the significance of murder.
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