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WTF, Pennsylvania
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Games Meister
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Eternity
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My own state getting in the goodness. This is actually relatively near me.
Cops: Pennsylvania boy kills 90-year-old woman - CNN.com
The boy admitted to grabbing a wooden cane, holding it against 90-year-old Helen Novak's throat for several seconds and punching her in the throat and stomach, according to the police affidavit.
Kurilla told police he was angry at Novak because she had yelled at him when he entered her room. He said he wanted to ask her a question.
Were you trying to kill her? the trooper asked the boy.
"No, I was only trying to hurt her," Kurilla replied, according to the affidavit.
Now, Kurilla is being held at the Wayne County Correctional Facility and charged as an adult with criminal homicide, the Wayne County district attorney's office said. The boy is separated from adult offenders and is being constantly supervised, CNN affiliate WBRE reported.
Janine Edwards, Wayne County district attorney, said Pennsylvania law made it mandatory "that a criminal homicide charge be first directly filed in adult court by the prosecutor regardless of the age of the perpetrator," WBRE reported.
"It is not a choice I made," she told the station, adding that a juvenile detention center will not accept a child charged with homicide. "It's not a choice the warden made. It's not a choice Pennsylvania State Police made."
The only reason I can think the law is set-up in this way is to help prosecute and put away teens involved in inner-city violence. Otherwise, what the hell? Law of unintended consequences strikes.
Either way, if this kid is ever going to be normal, it's going to require a lot of therapy and monitoring. If he gets jailed for any length of time, might as well reserve a cell for him for the rest of his life.
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: May 2001
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I saw this case the other day. For a kid to do something like that seems like a serious mental health issue. That being said, I'm troubled by charging him as an adult. I simply think they we should either have a juvenile justice system or we shouldn't. When sometimes a kid is charged as an adult but other times a different kid is not when they commit the exact same crime is a recipe for discrimination and abuse.
OAW
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Games Meister
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Eternity
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Originally Posted by OAW
I saw this case the other day. For a kid to do something like that seems like a serious mental health issue. That being said, I'm troubled by charging him as an adult. I simply think they we should either have a juvenile justice system or we shouldn't. When sometimes a kid is charged as an adult but other times a different kid is not when they commit the exact same crime is a recipe for discrimination and abuse.
OAW
Yes, mental health was what I was alluding to earlier.
Honestly, I could see a distinction made for post-pubescent teens not of the age of majority (as they are physically and mentally distinct from children), but the logistics of it, never mind the necessity, just don't seem worth the effort.
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Professional Poster
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Just west of DC.
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Games Meister
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Eternity
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Originally Posted by BadKosh
Lack of discipline?
No.
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