This past January a 10 year old boy in Ohio shot his mom and killed her. Not all details were put on the final printed report but extra details were reported on a television interview.
The young boy had gotten angry with his mother. He went into his room where 4 fully loaded guns were hanging on his wall on display. He took them all down and sat them on his bed. He picked up a .22 caliber rifle, walked into the living room and shot his mother in the head. He then proceeded to run to the neighbor’s house.
The neighbor called 911 to report the incident and the boy can be heard in the background yelling “I shot my mom. I killed her”. When the police went to investigate they found the mother face down on the living room floor and she was pronounced dead. They then took her 10 year old son into custody.
The boy was held at a juvenile delinquent center while the case was viewed. His lawyer believes that the boy is not guilty. The defense attorney plans to win the case.
Personally, I don’t think it is entirely the boy’s fault. It is probably 15% his fault and about 85% the parent’s fault.
First of all, putting four fully loaded guns in a child’s room that are easily reachable is incredibly stupid. You are just asking for trouble. It is one thing to have guns in a child’s room, which I do not think is a very good idea either, but to have them fully loaded?! What, is he getting early training for the Mafia?!
Secondly, if this child was raised correctly, he would not have killed his mother. The parenting needs to seriously be critiqued. Growing up, I was always told to never be rude or mean or hit adults. And if I ever was to my parents I would be in trouble. Like soap in the mouth, no television, stay in your room trouble. My parents always taught me that violence is never okay and it is never the answer. They also did not let me watch bad violence on television. It was just something I never grew up with.
But obviously, the child did grow up around violence. Either he was abused, his mother was abused, he got to watch violence, or he saw his mom being violent. Any of these or more could have been a factor. And if any of those were a factor then I could definitely see why he thought violence was okay. If he thought that violence was the solution to his problem, then his parents did not raise him correctly.
Now does this mean that he should be tried as an adult, or as a child?
Some say that he should be tried as an adult. He committed an adult crime: murder. He obviously knew he shot her and knew what a gun could do. He is mentally unstable and should be charged as an adult so that he can stay longer in prison.
However I think that he should be tried as a child. He is only 10 years old after all. Yes, murder is an adult crime but it also comes back to how he was raised. Is it his fault he was taught violence was okay? No, not at all. His mind is just beginning to develop and so any information he can take in will be kept. That is not his fault at all.
What I really think he needs is a therapist. He needs someone he can talk to about not only what he did, but the environment he grew up in. By doing this they can learn why he did what he did. They can also diagnose him with any number of mental illnesses and treat him for it.
He does not need to be punished. What he needs is to be treated. He is evidently mixed up about his morals and he just needs some help to get him on the right track. I really do not think jail time will help him in any way. If anything, he will just become a bad person.
I believe he does not need jail time, he needs a therapist. He is just a young kid and needs more direction than his parents had given him.
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