Crime at an early age: Why children are becoming cruel

Juvenile delinquency tends to be younger, children are cruel, and the details of the cases are appalling. In the past few years, whenever there has been a serious crime at a young age, the society of various countries will set off a discussion on the age of criminal responsibility, and how to deal with juvenile crime has become a worldwide problem.

More and more cruel

Aiden Fucci, 14, sat in the back seat of a police car and held one hand high in front of the camera, making a "V" gesture.

On the day he was taken away by the police car, he posted the selfie on his social media with a caption: "Hey guys, has anyone seen Tristin lately?"

图 | 少年犯艾登在警车上自拍

On the same day, an American citizen found a bloodied body in the woods, a 13-year-old middle school girl, Tristyn Balley. A follow-up investigation found that the murderer was the teenager Aiden who posted the selfie. On the night of May 8, 2021, Aiden called Tristin out and slashed 114 times in an alley 400 meters away from her home.

The forensic examination found that 49 of the 114 stab wounds were located on Tristin's arms and arms, which were considered defensive wounds. This meant that Tristin insisted on resisting until the last moment. The tip of Aiden's hunting knife used to kill Tristin snaps into her scalp.

Police believe that the only reason Aiden stopped at the 114th knife was that the knife was broken.

After an investigation, St. John's County Judge Lee Smith found that Aiden was highly premeditated and that the crime was not committed because of an argument or revenge, and that "his murder did not appear to have a motive or any other reason than to satisfy his heart's desire to experience what it was like to kill." ”

After killing Bailey, Aiden pretended not to know and asked Bailey about his whereabouts on social platforms. At first, the police also questioned him as a witness, until evidence was found, and then Aiden was arrested for murder. When police searched Aiden's bedroom, they found pieces of clothing stained with Tristine's blood, as well as a painting of Aiden, in which the girl's limbs were severed. Previously, Aiden had spoken to his classmates about his fantasies about violence and murder.

The provocative selfie and the cruelty of the details of the case quickly detonated public opinion in the United States. However, according to the law of Florida in 2021, 14-year-old Aiden will only face a maximum of seven years in prison as a minor in juvenile prison, and can be released from prison at the age of 21.

"He should be judged as an adult. Because he knows what he's doing, and he's complacent about it!" netizens posted similar comments. More than 720,000 U.S. netizens signed a petition asking prosecutors to escalate Aiden's charges to first-degree murder and try him as an adult in ordinary court.

Aiden's case was eventually moved from juvenile court to adult court. On March 24, 2023, Aiden was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to a maximum sentence of 40 years. The prosecutor in the case said at a press conference: "While the charge of first-degree murder against a 14-year-old minor makes me feel bad. But the horrific and brutal circumstances of the case made it easy for me to make a decision. ”

Figure | On March 24, 2023, 16-year-old Aiden accepted the verdict in court

In the past five years, the number of juvenile delinquents in many countries around the world has surged, showing a trend of younger age and violence. According to the Office for National Statistics, the number of cases of crimes with knives or sharp tools in the UK reached 49,000 in 2022, of which nearly a fifth of the offenders were minors between the ages of 10 and 17, a significant increase from the past. German media also found that the number of crimes in Germany surged in 2022, reversing the downward trend of the past five years, in which the proportion of children and adolescents increased significantly: the police recorded about 93,000 suspects under the age of 14, an increase of 35% compared to 2021.

One of the characteristics of the cases that have been exposed is that the methods are extremely cruel. In June 2022, Anastasia, a 15-year-old schoolgirl in Germany, was premeditated by two peers of the same age. In January 2023, a 14-year-old boy in Wenstorf, Lower Saxony, Germany, stoned his classmate to death. Just two months later, a 12-year-old girl in NRW was stabbed to death by two of her peers and suffered multiple stab wounds.

In 2021, a murder and arson case also occurred in Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. Hiroki Endo, who was 19 years old at the time, confessed to his school sister and was rejected, and then became angry and ashamed. At 3:30 a.m. on October 12, he broke into his sister's home, killed her parents with an axe and a fruit knife on the first floor, and then violently attacked her 14-year-old sister's head. The younger sister was injured and rushed upstairs to escape with her sister by jumping off the building, while Yuki Endo set fire to the house with lighter oil.

At that time, the minimum age of criminal responsibility for juvenile delinquency in Japan was 14 years old, but the adult standard was 20 years old. In other words, Yuki Endo will still be designated as a minor and will be protected by Japan's Juvenile Law. In 2022, Japan amended the Civil Code to lower the age of majority to 18 years old, and amended the Juvenile Law to classify juvenile offenders aged 18-19 as "specified juveniles", applying the minimum sentence for adult offenders.

As a result, Endo became the first "specified juvenile" to be sentenced to death since the legislative amendment. In response to the younger age of violent crime and the increasingly brutal juvenile crime, many countries and regions are considering or have legislated to lower the age of criminal responsibility to deter the spread of underage crime.

On January 18, 2024, the Kofu District Court sentenced Hiroki Endo to death. Presiding Judge Jun Mikami noted, "This is a brutal crime based on extreme malice and strong intent to kill. The crime is well-planned and the motives are self-centered and irrational. He also did not sincerely apologize to the families of the deceased. ”

The court found that Endo's criminal responsibility was serious, the likelihood of rehabilitation was low, and his age was not sufficient to justify him evading the death penalty.

Penal dilemma

From a criminological point of view, juvenile delinquency has always been regarded as a special social phenomenon, distinguishing it from adult delinquency. Most countries include juvenile offenders in the juvenile justice system, as distinct from the criminal justice system. The Juvenile Law, which has been in force since 1949, was also enacted under the concept of protection first, and placed more emphasis on correction, education, and assistance to juvenile offenders than punishment.

The setting of the age of criminal responsibility is based on the basic logic of child and youth protection. This concept can be traced back to the 6th century AD, when the Roman Code of Justinian first put forward the principle that "children cannot premeditately commit crimes", believing that there are no inherently bad children in the world, and there are no irretrievable children. This principle is still in use today and is a fundamental idea that influences juvenile justice systems in all countries. In civil law countries such as Germany and Japan, for example, optimists believe that as long as the social system continues to innovate, human nature will tend to be perfected, so the judicial policy for juveniles is mainly based on education and reform, and even if there is criminal punishment, it is much lighter than that of adults.

The notion that juvenile offenders are just children and should be given a chance to be reborn, is also being challenged. In Japan, Riko Takeru, founder of the Association of Juvenile Delinquents Victims, pointed out that Japan's Juvenile Law places too much emphasis on the protection of juvenile offenders, but ignores the fairness and justice of victims. Many juvenile offenders end up failing to pay civil compensation. Whether the offender has truly repented, what the result of the probation has become, and the victim's family has no way of knowing. She questioned that the justice system only guaranteed juvenile offenders a chance at rebirth, while leaving the victims and their families in the same place for a lifetime of suffering.

In reality, however, the increasing cruelty of juvenile delinquency has in turn raised doubts about the effectiveness of lowering the age of criminal responsibility. In the 1997 Kobe Serial Child Murder Incident (also known as the Drunkard Rose Incident), a 14-year-old boy attacked children in a row for half a year, killing two people and seriously injuring three others. Shocked by this incident, in 2000 the Japanese Diet lowered the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 14 years. However, in 2004, a case of an 11-year-old girl who killed a girl in her class shook Japanese society.

People began to wonder if every time a vicious case was encountered, the society would have to lower the age of criminal responsibility.

In the past few years, whenever there has been a serious crime at a young age, there has been a wave of discussion about the age of criminal responsibility. At present, nearly 100 countries around the world have set the age of criminal responsibility at 12 to 13 years old, such as the Netherlands, France, Turkey, etc. The age is 14 in more than 40 countries, including Japan and Germany, 10 in the United Kingdom, and 7 in more than 20 countries, including Switzerland and Singapore. In the United States, there are even 35 states that do not have an age limit for imprisonment. That is, children of any age in these areas can be sentenced to criminal responsibility.

The common law system, which adheres to the concept of realism, tends to increase the punishment in the face of juvenile crimes at an increasingly young age and vicious. The common law rule of Malice Supplies The Age has been widely used in many cases in recent years.

The rule of malicious make-up age was first proposed by British lawyer William Blackstone in his book Interpretation of English Law, arguing that "the capacity for criminal responsibility is largely determined by the child's understanding and judgment, and an 11-year-old child can be as cunning as a 14-year-old juvenile." "Therefore, in the face of juvenile crimes, if the prosecution can provide relevant evidence to prove that the minor committed the act with clear malice, the age of criminal responsibility can be made up and criminal responsibility can be pursued.

On the basis of this principle, Britain sentenced two 10-year-old boys to eight years in prison, the youngest murderers in its modern history. In the United States today, most states intervene in juvenile delinquency through social services, juvenile incarceration, and alternative education, and almost all states require juvenile offenders to be tried as adults if the crime is serious, the offender has a clear understanding of the meaning of the crime, and has a criminal record.

This procedure began in the 90s, and by 2016, statistics showed that the number of minors arrested for severe violence in the United States had dropped by 55% compared to the 90s. In addition to targeted punishments, countries have also begun to try to intervene in juvenile delinquency at the social level.

The slums of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, are rife with gang violence and drug trafficking and are known as a haven for sin. What is particularly alarming is the fact that a significant number of minors are among the perpetrators. A media outlet visited a juvenile prison in Rio de Janeiro, and Ricardo was only 15 years old. He has a young face, but there is a coldness that transcends his years. Ricardo said he joined the local gang at the age of 9 and began carrying drugs on the streets at the age of 10. The 11-year-old murder was to execute a traitor from a gang who had just taken cocaine before pulling the trigger.

Many juvenile delinquencies have their social soil behind them. Gang leaders in Brazil know that children and teenagers are not experienced enough to control and, more importantly, that they can be released quickly if they are caught by the police. The evil of teenagers is amplified by the encouragement of society and becomes a tool that gangs can use. In order to reduce the possibility of children committing crimes, government organizations and social welfare organizations are also trying to transform and purify the soil of crime and intervene in the social environment in which minors grow up.

The Katoombi slum in Rio de Janeiro is home to a professional outdoor stadium with grandstands, consisting of 4 indoor and outdoor pitches of different sizes. In 2014, Alberto, a football coach at an NGO, told reporters that his organization was training local poor youth to play football for free, and there are many such organizations in the local area. Alberto trains four children on his own, all around 7 years old.

Brazil's slum gangs and drug dealers are rife, and many children are attracted to these illegal activities if they are not paying attention. The love of football is engraved in the bones of every Brazilian, so the local people think of using football to fight crime for children. At these community soccer fields, children can learn soccer skills for free and even play inter-community games. There are also volunteers who coach at these community soccer fields, some of whom are gang members from the past or even drug dealers who have completed their prison sentences. They come out to say something, which in turn affects the teenagers' perception of the world.

"The children of the slums, they are convinced that the only equality that the world brings them is the moment when they stand on the pitch and keep winning. Coach Alberto said. Football has made a big difference for underprivileged teenagers. As long as these children play well, they have the opportunity to enter a professional club after the age of 13, solve the problem of food and clothing, and even change the fate of the family.

A documentary about a Brazilian community soccer stadium, "Pelada: Slum Soccer", has reverberated in Brazil and the international community. Many people find that in addition to increasing the punishment of juvenile offenders, it is necessary to fundamentally intervene in society. When drug dealers, gangsters, and teenagers have other places to go, when people on the margins of society can find a way out of life, the evil genes rooted in human nature can also be diluted in hope.

The absence of atonement

James Crumbley, 47, was convicted of four counts of manslaughter and faces up to 15 years in prison in Oakland County Court, Michigan, U.S., March 14, 2024. It wasn't him who killed people, but his son, Ethan Crumbley. A month ago, the child's mother, 45-year-old Jennifer Crumbley, was convicted of the same crime.

More than two years ago, the couple's 15-year-old son, Ethan, shot at Oxford High School on the outskirts of Detroit, killing four students and wounding seven. "James Crumbley was not tried for what his son did, but for his own actions and omissions. Prosecutor Karen McDonald said.

On the morning of the shooting, Ethan's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Clumbley, were called to school to discuss what their son had written. The counselor took out Ethan's math homework paper, and the drawings of guns and bullets were clearly presented, and the words "help me" and "blood everywhere" were scattered everywhere, which was disturbing. The counselor told the parents that they were advised to take their son out of school immediately for mental health treatment. The two only coldly said that they were busy. "We've got to get to work. Mother said.

Figure | Geometric homework paper for teenager Ethan on the day of the shooting

Ethan continued to return to class. In his diary entry the day before, he complained that there was a voice in his head that was getting louder, but his father refused to take him to the doctor, "Tomorrow there will be a shot." I have access to firearms and ammunition. I will be sentenced to life in prison, and many people have only one day left to live. The boy wrote this self-prophecy.

Just about two hours after her parents left, Ethan pulled her gun out of her backpack.

Prosecutor McDonald said the shooting could have been avoided if the parents had followed the counselor's advice, if the parents had paid more attention to their son's psyche, and even, if the parents had taken 10 seconds to lock the gun up. She picked up the murder weapon from the courtroom table and inserted the cable lock into the gun, proving that it only took 10 seconds.

"James Krubley had the simplest and most obvious chance to stop the deaths of these four students, but he did nothing...... He didn't do anything, over and over again. MacDonald said. The jury agreed with the prosecutor that the Clumbleys themselves did not shoot, but they were inescapable of the loss of four lives. Failure to do harm is infliction of harm.

This is the first time in history that a criminal case has been filed against the parents of the killer of a school shooting. Previously, for juvenile delinquents, the United States usually ordered the perpetrator to compensate the injured party for huge expenses, including lost wages and moral damages in addition to medical and litigation costs. In many cases, the parents of the perpetrators have paid high compensation and have provided as much material support as possible to the victims' families.

However, even if the parents compensate for the sins and pay more compensation, it will not be able to eliminate the pain caused by juvenile crime to the victims' families. Even, this pain will cause new and deeper harm because of the contempt for sin by juvenile delinquents. The fact that the subject of the crime is exempt from bearing the burden of crime or bears less of it makes it difficult to atone for and prevent the crime from the root. The leniency of sentences has led some juvenile offenders to lack awareness of the crimes they have committed and to stigmatize the victims and their families. This has torn apart the social consensus on judicial fairness.

Jordan Klee, born in 1998, was raised alone by his mother, and he was an outgoing personality who was the kind of sunny teenager that everyone loved. Jordan attended Pioneer High School in Michigan, USA, where he excelled and excelled in sports. After graduating from high school, he will enter the University of Michigan as a football player. On October 4, 2016, on his way home from school, 17-year-old Jordan was killed by a 17-year-old boy of the same age, Danta wright. Dante and two thugs took a fancy to Jordan's handsome tracksuit and sneakers, robbed him, and left with his clothes and money after firing several shots.

The main offender, Dante, immediately reached a plea agreement with the prosecutor in collaboration with his lawyers, which means that he will be exempt from criminal punishment. On June 26, 2017, the case commenced in the Washtel Court in Michigan. Karen, the mother of the victim Jordan, could not cry and had to be read out by her cousin.

Karen has the same nightmare every night. In the dream, she heard her son screaming and woke up to realize that he was really dead. "This is my nightmare, and it's a nightmare that no parent should ever have...... I lost my only son. I can no longer see his smile when he comes home, I can no longer eat the ice cream he bought for me, and I can no longer hear his songs. The happy time we had watching a movie together in the evening will never be there again. "The complaint of the bereaved mother moved everyone in the courtroom.

When it was Dante's turn to speak, the murderer rubbed his hands and shook his head, smiled arbitrarily with his teeth, and said with a relaxed expression: "What I want to tell you is that I will be able to go home soon." Because I love my family. ”

Judge David was enraged by Dante's reaction. In his previous 23 years of career, he had never denied a plea agreement for a juvenile offender, but this time he decided to exercise his discretion: "Today, I see you sitting there, smiling and shaking your head as if it wasn't a big deal. I have decided not to accept your plea agreement, I want you to stand trial. Your right to a second trial has been stripped away, the case will go to the jury stage, and if you are convicted, you will spend the rest of your life in prison. I think that's the right thing for me to do. ”

Figure | Killed 17-year-old teenager Jordan Kerry

After a jury verdict, Dante was sentenced to 50 years in prison. But as Jordan's mother, Karen, said, Dante is in prison for her crimes, and as a family member of the victim, she will also live in an invisible prison every day. One day, Dent may be able to get out of prison, but she, as the mother of the deceased, will fall into eternal darkness and will not be able to break free.

"You're alive, but Jordan has no future. ”

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Written by Xie Gaomiao