There’s a young person whose future is at stake here. Which is why this lawyer is 180 degrees of wrong on this:
One of the two pre-teen boys charged with dropping a shopping cart over a fourth-story railing in New York City — nearly killing a philanthropist who was shopping for underprivileged kids — could be sentenced to as little as probation after pleading guilty to felony assault Friday.
…
“Today my client did the responsible thing and [pleaded] guilty,” said his lawyer, Shahabuddeen Ally. “He took ownership of his actions. The goal is to get him back into the community.”
via 12-Year-Old Boy Pleads Guilty To Dropping Shopping Cart Four Stories Onto Woman Below | Fox News.
That community produced in him this complete lack of self-respect, reckless disregard for consequences, and quite possibly racial animus. Whatever community he is from, the most harmful thing that can be done for this child is to drop him right back in it.
This is not mischief. This is attempted murder, and only his youth protects him from the charge. Therefore let his youth weigh heavily upon the judge. He is vulnerable and apparently defenseless before a debased culture that will claim him as a victim if he is simply dropped back into it.
“Juvie” will probably ruin him as swiftly as returning him to his harmful origin. What this young man needs in his life is a father or an uncle who will instill in him the absolute knowledge that an ass-whoopin; will follow a serious infraction. Later, he can avstract that notion to society at large, in less graphic consequences, but it is too early to expect him to place much value on the nebulous benefits of getting along in society. That’s why we as a race *evolved* what Eminem refers to as a “good old-fashioned passionate ass-whoopin”.
So somebody needs to beat this kid, and it must be done with love and restraint. The state cannot provide the beating, and it sounds like home either has no beating or no restraint. I admit this is difficult, but the traditional remedy for a family losing control of a child is to ship the child to a more stout family member for a summer. Or for good. It’s not the end of the world, and it used to be more common, before things got so screwed up. That’s no coincidence, and just one more benefit of family over government.
That lawyer is dead wrong, and the right answer is not within his purview.
There is also the matter of the utterly innocent object of the attack; that woman who was nearly killed by this little bastard. Where is her recourse? She is probably not of a mindset to seek vengeance against a 12-year old, but she must surely not be satisfied with the idea that the kid just pushes “reset”. I think she would welcome the “tough uncle” approach. Suing the parents is probably off the table.
In a cosmic sense, from her perspective, this is a bolt from the blue; an attack with no return address, because adults don’t go after kids like they do adults.