Who raises these kids?

[RTSigma]

Was browsing around and found this on Yahoo! News. Makes me sick to actually hear something like this. The kids were caught on tape and actually have the cajones to say that they're NOT GUILTY. I hope these kids get multiple life sentences and that the parents are charged too. WTG.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Three teenagers accused in a series of brutal beatings that killed a homeless man and seriously injured two others the same night pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of murder and attempted murder.
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In one of the attacks, captured on a university surveillance tape, two young men with baseball bats repeatedly hit the victim as he lay on a sidewalk and tried to block the blows with his hands. In the other attacks, authorities said the assailants used a paintball gun, bats and a golf club.

The videotaped attack sparked public outrage and helped lead authorities to the teens.

Brian Hooks and William Ammons, both 18, and 17-year-old Thomas Daugherty were indicted earlier this month on murder charges in the killing of 45-year-old Norris Gaynor and attempted murder in the beatings of Raymond Perez and Jacques Pierre.

Gaynor was beaten with a baseball bat while he slept on a park bench Jan. 12 and was shot with a paintball gun.

Perez was assaulted with a golf club outside a nearby church, and Pierre was bludgeoned with a bat on the Fort Lauderdale campus of Florida Atlantic University, the attack caught on tape.

In court, the teens' attorneys described each youth as contrite and upset about what had happened.

"He's got the weight of the world on his shoulders," said Daugherty's attorney, Michael Gottlieb. "He definitely feels bad."

Hooks' lawyer, Jeremy Kroll, said his client was "obviously disturbed by what happened" and that evidence would show Hooks was present but did not actively take part in the beatings.

One witness who testified before a grand jury identified only Hooks and Daugherty — the two teenagers seen in the videotaped beating — as taking part in the fatal attack on Gaynor, their lawyers said. Michael Rothschild, the assistant public defender representing Ammons, said that witness could be key to his client's defense.

"He wasn't with them when Mr. Gaynor was unfortunately killed," Rothschild said of the witness's testimony.

Police reports, however, allege that Ammons fired paintball slugs at Gaynor while Daugherty struck him on the head with a baseball bat.

Under Florida law, people who take part in a crime can be charged with murder if someone is slain, even if they didn't commit the actual killing.

Hooks, of Plantation, and Ammons, of Fort Lauderdale, could face the death penalty if convicted; Daugherty, also of Plantation, is being tried as an adult but faces a maximum sentence of life in prison because of his age.

Prosecutors have not said if they will seek the death penalty. Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Imperato set a March 31 hearing.

Police also are investigating whether the teens may have been involved in five other assaults on homeless people who came forward after the Jan. 12 attacks.

[eagl]

He feels bad but plead not guilty.

Doesn't feel bad enough apparently.  Maybe some jail time will make him feel bad enough to admit the amazingly horrible things he and his friends did.  Does he feel bad enough to plead guilty and testify against his friends?  No?  Maybe he ought to face the death penalty since that's what the gang did to the people they brutalized.

[Gunslinger]

What's sad is these incidents are usually middle class kids from decent familys that are just screwed up or bored.  There's no excuse for it.  We did some screwed up things as kids but we never went and beat bumbes to death or nothing.

I knew guys that did the paint ball thing, I actually have fallen victom to that before with several friends.  This is just outragious.  These kids just don't seem like they were taught right from wrong well enough at an early age.

[RTSigma]

Back in my day (I'm 22 but figure almost a decade ago for teenage fun) a fun night out would mean TP'ing a house, maybe writing profanities in the snow in front of a junior high school or riding our bikes through the dirt hills in a development area. These kids would rather go out and beat up people. I hope they get jail time and have karma come back threefold.

[lasersailor184]

When parents shirk their parental responsibilities.  They let other people raise their children (inadvertantly).

Unfortunately I wouldn't know what to do with him now.  He is pretty young (look who's talking), and probably didn't realize what he was getting into.  Then again, he maliciously attacked 3 people killing one.  

What do you do?  (open question)

[Sandman]

Originally posted by lasersailor184

What do you do?  (open question)

You let the courts have him.

[capt. apathy]

Originally posted by RTSigma
Who raises these kids?

nobody.

[Shuckins]

Capt. Apathy,

You're not exactly correct in that assumption.

I work with these kids at a secure juvenile correctional facility in south Arkansas.  Part of my duties is to peruse their case and educational files preparatory to writing educational plans for each of them.  In the year and four months I have been there I have studied the backgrounds of nearly 80 young "delinquents" and have found some trends common to almost all of them:

1.  Reside with their mothers.

2.  Often mom is a drug addict.

3.  Daddio never puts in an appearance.

4.  If they don't live with their mothers they reside with their grandmothers.

5.  Mom and grandmom either cannot or will not handle them.

6.  Juvenile has a history of gang-related activity.

Having studied their backgrounds in some detail, I have come to the conclusion that, when mom and grandmother are unable to raise the child they are, by default, raised by other members of their immediate families...such as Uncle Rap and Auntie Crack.

[Eagler]

Originally posted by Shuckins
Capt. Apathy,

You're not exactly correct in that assumption.

I work with these kids at a secure juvenile correctional facility in south Arkansas.  Part of my duties is to peruse their case and educational files preparatory to writing educational plans for each of them.  In the year and four months I have been there I have studied the backgrounds of nearly 80 young "delinquents" and have found some trends common to almost all of them:

1.  Reside with their mothers.

2.  Often mom is a drug addict.

3.  Daddio never puts in an appearance.

4.  If they don't live with their mothers they reside with their grandmothers.

5.  Mom and grandmom either cannot or will not handle them.

6.  Juvenile has a history of gang-related activity.

Having studied their backgrounds in some detail, I have come to the conclusion that, when mom and grandmother are unable to raise the child they are, by default, raised by other members of their immediate families...such as Uncle Rap and Auntie Crack.

and the good news is if/when these winners grow up and have kids, guess how they will turn out..

but the other group are bored middle/upper class which have been raised since birth by someone else as both parents felt the need to "succeed" in business instead of doing with less and raising their children right.

it boils down to selfish behavior of one type or another

the smallest percentage are just a bad seeds which are a lost cause regardless of what the parents do or don't do, these losers are destin for trouble and heartbreak for the parents

[Ghosth]

The above thread is the single best possible arguement you could ever make for making it manditory to get a licence to have a child.

Any drug taking, abusive, drunk, misfit,  welfare mother, or social derilict  can have a child. And as a result we have children doing things like this.

If you had to

A go to classes/educate yourself.
B post a substantial bond
C Prove that you can support this child.
D Not get your bond back until this child is 18, and proves he can be a functioning member of society.

before you have a child, you would see some huge changes.

[Nilsen]

I blame Teletubbies

[lazs2]

they feel bad....

They feel bad that they are facing a murder rap.

As for a licence to have a kid?  Some of the worst serial killers and rapist and pedophiles all were raised by two parents who would have passed any licenceing scheme dreampt up by our government.

lazs

[Maverick]

When kids raise themselves they have nothing to fall back on. Impulse is king and there's no such thing as consequences. Respect is only due those who can apply more force than they can and there are no plans for the future as the future cannot even be imagined. It is the epitomy of the "me" situation.

Why would you be surprised at what they do for "fun"?

[storch]

these boys are merely the product of the society liberals have created.

1. prayer was removed and then prohibited in the schools
2. human life has no value as exemplified by abortion on demand
3. there are no absolutes, truth is subjective

we live in a liberal mentality society and we bemoan when our offspring behave as what we have created?

the principal at work here is the law of the harvest.  we shouldn't be surprised at all.

[USHilDvl]

They "feel bad"?  Tough.  

Looks to me like at least one guy feels...oh, what's the word I want here....oh, yeah...DEAD!

Bored and needed a distraction?  I can't even address this one.

I was a bored teenager once, and like others here, I simply never considered homicide to be particularly invigorating.  Neither did anyone I grew up with...despite some of the places I had to live.  Prayer and abortion rights, quite frankly, have exactly nothing to do with it.  That's just redirecting the real issue to another agenda.  Blamecasting responsibility to the government or liberals or any other convenient scapegoat is just exactly that...shifting blame.

I think it comes down to simple, basic, effective parenting...and taking personal responsibility for your children.  When an individual cannot manage to control their 'party' impulses, you get unwanted children, single-parent families or kids raised by the extended family, while Mommy or Daddy continues to party on.  Basically, keep your pants on unless you are prepared to be responsible about it.  It's really that simple.

Lock 'em up, and put 'em to work.  Unfortunately, I have to wonder whether anything could be counted on to actually 'rehabilitate' the mind of a person who finds a good random beating to be the pinnacle of Saturday night entertainment.