12/13 year old girls arrested for stomping man to death in DC last fall

[Anonymous]

I think the most disgusting thing about this story is how they were beating this poor man and some other girl saw them and asked if she could join. Just awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most kids that are neglected still don’t end up murdering people. Unfortunately, there are just some children (and adults) that are prone to being violent people. Some kids are just mean and violent natured people and there he not much that can be done to help them.

And let's face it, some of these kids are being taught to be violent and criminal. A 12 or 13 year old doesn't just spontaneously wake up and do armed carjackings. It also can't help to be steeped in a culture of glorifying violent crime through drill rap and making things like "street cred" the most important thing someone can have, and that it is only earned through violence. How many instances of "promising young DC rapper killed" have there been where they felt they needed to "up their street cred" to help their rap career by trying to rob a dealer or some other stunt only to end up getting shot in the process. More than a few.

Some kids absolutely do wake up evil in the morning and commit crimes. Environmental factors do not explain everything and significant proportion of crime (around 50%) is attributable to genetic heritability. There are kids that are inherently antisocial/violent who cannot be helped. For this group the best solution is to protect everyone else by giving them life in jail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most kids that are neglected still don’t end up murdering people. Unfortunately, there are just some children (and adults) that are prone to being violent people. Some kids are just mean and violent natured people and there he not much that can be done to help them.

And let's face it, some of these kids are being taught to be violent and criminal. A 12 or 13 year old doesn't just spontaneously wake up and do armed carjackings. It also can't help to be steeped in a culture of glorifying violent crime through drill rap and making things like "street cred" the most important thing someone can have, and that it is only earned through violence. How many instances of "promising young DC rapper killed" have there been where they felt they needed to "up their street cred" to help their rap career by trying to rob a dealer or some other stunt only to end up getting shot in the process. More than a few.

Some kids absolutely do wake up evil in the morning and commit crimes. Environmental factors do not explain everything and significant proportion of crime (around 50%) is attributable to genetic heritability. There are kids that are inherently antisocial/violent who cannot be helped. For this group the best solution is to protect everyone else by giving them life in jail.

For youth crimes, I would like some kind of 'parole board' before release. They shouldn't be automatically released when ("just because") they reach a certain age, but when they demonstrate certain behaviors, attainments and redemptions during their incarceration that would allow them to function in society-- for example. a GED, a clean record while imprisoned, some community service, testimony from a psychologist that they engaged productively in individual and group sessions, job training. If it takes them until 26 or 30 or longer to demonstrate this, so be it. To store these girls and release them arbitrarily at 18 or whatnot without any evidence that they would be productive and socialized would be a crime against society. I would like to see youth justice reforms that focus on what is happening WHILE criminal youth are in the system, to basically decriminalize them. Instead the focus seems to be on protecting their identities and releasing them as soon as possible with as few conditions as possible. That's a formula for repeat offenders.

[Anonymous]

Two of the girls have been convicted of second degree murder: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/11/18/teen-girls-beating-guilty-reggie-brown/

The judge found the girls didn't have prior intent so they were not convicted of the original charge of 1st degree murder.

They haven't been sentenced yet. The max sentence they could get would be detention until their 21 birthdays.

This is a horrible, horrible case and really highlights the way juvenile violent crime in this city is a failure on many levels -- failure of their parents, their community, and their schools for permitting these children to reach the point where they would gleefully take a disabled man's life for sport, but also a total failure of our criminal justice system to come up with a resolution to this crime that actually keeps anyone safer or addresses the very likely recidivism of these kids. I don't see DC's juvenile justice system doing anything to actually rehabilitate these girls but they'll all wind up free as adults. Great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two of the girls have been convicted of second degree murder: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/11/18/teen-girls-beating-guilty-reggie-brown/

The judge found the girls didn't have prior intent so they were not convicted of the original charge of 1st degree murder.

They haven't been sentenced yet. The max sentence they could get would be detention until their 21 birthdays.

This is a horrible, horrible case and really highlights the way juvenile violent crime in this city is a failure on many levels -- failure of their parents, their community, and their schools for permitting these children to reach the point where they would gleefully take a disabled man's life for sport, but also a total failure of our criminal justice system to come up with a resolution to this crime that actually keeps anyone safer or addresses the very likely recidivism of these kids. I don't see DC's juvenile justice system doing anything to actually rehabilitate these girls but they'll all wind up free as adults. Great.

Why are schools and "their community" to blame? This is a parent problem first, and a criminal justice problem second. These girls learned their behavior from their parents - who should be charged for their negligence.

[Anonymous]

They should be sentenced to do community service for the next decade to help people that have disabilities. This will help them understand the consequences of their actions. I don't think a long prison sentence will help. It will only turn them in to career criminals when they get out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They should be sentenced to do community service for the next decade to help people that have disabilities. This will help them understand the consequences of their actions. I don't think a long prison sentence will help. It will only turn them in to career criminals when they get out.

Why would you do that? They have discovered that they have a free pass to murder until age 21. Do you want to give them more victims?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They should be sentenced to do community service for the next decade to help people that have disabilities. This will help them understand the consequences of their actions. I don't think a long prison sentence will help. It will only turn them in to career criminals when they get out.

Probably too late for that, sadly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two of the girls have been convicted of second degree murder: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/11/18/teen-girls-beating-guilty-reggie-brown/

The judge found the girls didn't have prior intent so they were not convicted of the original charge of 1st degree murder.

They haven't been sentenced yet. The max sentence they could get would be detention until their 21 birthdays.

This is a horrible, horrible case and really highlights the way juvenile violent crime in this city is a failure on many levels -- failure of their parents, their community, and their schools for permitting these children to reach the point where they would gleefully take a disabled man's life for sport, but also a total failure of our criminal justice system to come up with a resolution to this crime that actually keeps anyone safer or addresses the very likely recidivism of these kids. I don't see DC's juvenile justice system doing anything to actually rehabilitate these girls but they'll all wind up free as adults. Great.

Why are schools and "their community" to blame? This is a parent problem first, and a criminal justice problem second. These girls learned their behavior from their parents - who should be charged for their negligence.

I came to say the same thing. We have to stop blaming schools and the community. I live in a community in SE. My kids are fully grown and while I know my neighbors, I have no influence over how their kids are raised, if they attend school regularly or whether they get consequences (or praise) for their actions. I have no influence over whether their parents are decent, loving and well-resourced people. As for schools, do people realize that the 12 year old is probably in 6th or 7th grade? They entered their middle school with the propensity to commit this kind of crime. What is it that we expect our teachers and schools to do for a kid they've had for a year or two? Refer the kid for counseling? Refer the family to the authorities? Give the kid consequences when they act out which in some places get schools in trouble for suspensions. What do you think that the 12-year old could be doing to other kids (and even adults) in the school environment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They should be sentenced to do community service for the next decade to help people that have disabilities. This will help them understand the consequences of their actions. I don't think a long prison sentence will help. It will only turn them in to career criminals when they get out.

They should get life in jail. This is absurd that they the maximum sentence is only jail until age 21. Amy kid that violently stomps someone to death for entertainment is a threat to public safety and they cannot be among the general public.

[Anonymous]

Parents need to be charged with a criminal case for parental neglect or abuse when their kids are troublemakers BEFORE they become killers.

[Anonymous]

Try them as adults 25 years in prison

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They should be sentenced to do community service for the next decade to help people that have disabilities. This will help them understand the consequences of their actions. I don't think a long prison sentence will help. It will only turn them in to career criminals when they get out.

So sic murderers on the disabled?

Nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents need to be charged with a criminal case for parental neglect or abuse when their kids are troublemakers BEFORE they become killers.

Parents should be charged, absolutely. They had the responsibility to know where these kids were and what they were up to. If they actually parented this wouldn't have happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents need to be charged with a criminal case for parental neglect or abuse when their kids are troublemakers BEFORE they become killers.

Parents should be charged, absolutely. They had the responsibility to know where these kids were and what they were up to. If they actually parented this wouldn't have happened.

I don’t necessarily think the parents should be charged. Parents can do everything right and their kids can still turn out to be evil sociopaths if they are unlucky. Especially if they were walking home from school, I don’t support charging the parents.