Saturday, September 29, 2012
Should Girl Gang be treated as adults?
I usually leave crime stories to the professionals, but it doesn't stop me from having an opinion about crime.
My first taste of what was going on came to me in a text message..."Teenage girls cutting up in Chester-someone should kick their asses!!!"
It was hours later that I learned about the video of the beatdown. As expected, the girls were arrested, arraigned, and sent to jail. But there's more.
I'm going to provide my opinions by responding to what I've read so far in the papers.
- Laurel: To the residents in Chester who noticed the video on Facebook and promptly notified police.
- Yes indeed. A great snitch.
- "My client has never been in trouble before."
- Duh! It’s the teenage years that trouble usually starts.
- DART: To the six teen girls charged in a horrific beating incident in Chester in which they not only stand charged of attacking a mentally challenged woman, but also apparently felt the need to videotape it as well. Is this what we have come to?
- Not only 'is this what we have come to', we have been there for years. Kids have been watching online beatdowns for 10 years. To star in one is considered celebrity.
- Magisterial District Judge Dawn Vann originally arraigned four of the suspects in the cell block in Chester Police Headquarters on Friday morning.
- With so much girl crime in Chester, it's great to have a black women magistrate that can relate to these girls having been raised on these same mean streets. I'm sure she gave them a lecture with their arraignment.
- After several media representatives protested and Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan spoke to the judge, they were arraigned, a second time, in a courtroom before their family, law enforcement officials and the press.
-That is so wrong in so many ways. To use these girl's mis-actions for show serves no purpose and should be considered a crime. These girls need help, not a public #$^% (I won't print the word I want to use that begins with the letter L).
-Laurel: And also to police and the D. A.’ s office, for charging these young toughs as adults. There’s nothing juvenile about this kind of behavior.
-Wrong. This is juvenile behavior. This is what the kids are doing in the name of fun, usually to each other. Unless you are in the 'hood or in the schools, you don't see the abuse that kids inflict upon each other. It's crazy. I doubt if you'll see a group of 30 year old women rapping to each other on the sidewalk and go in and beat another adult. This action is juvenile behavior in every way. Only a kid would put that video on Facebook. An adult would know better.
Thankfully, the victim will recover from her wounds. What we should learn from this incident is that there are a lot of wounded minds in our juvenile population that need help.
Of course the girls should be punished, arrested and charged. But more than the need for law enforcement and the press to pile on, these girls, and many more like them, need behavioral help.
I don't see any of that type of help on the horizon.
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Don't be surprised at what happens when children aren't raised to live in society. These girls are the product of a community that has lived with a legislative, judicial, and police system that has criminalized whipping your child's butt for disobedience. Now that we get the product of that failure we act surprised. Cut the crap; all the grand parents, parents, cops, judges, and legislators knew this would happen. Now the private prisons have some more inmates to make money on. The girls don't have enough pride or sense to understand how they have been used. Send them to the Service as a last ditch effort to reclaim them from the prison system. Don't send parents to jail for using corpreal punishment in the upbringing of their children. It's one tool that some parents need to raise their children.
ReplyDeleteJUST CAGE UP THOSE ANIMALS AND THROW THE KEY AWAY, THEY HAVE SHOWN NO REMORSE FOR THE CRIME THAT THEY DID, THEY KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING AND NOW WE NEED TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT, PUT THEM AWAY!!!!
DeleteThey have been caged up. The key in on the hook and they will return back to the streets. Not showing remorse isn't a crime. Of course they knew what they were doing. Someone did the right thing and exposed the video to the police. Again, they've been put away.
DeleteI get what you're saying, but in this instance I think you're stance is too lenient. Their surroundings should be taken into consideration, BUT this truly IS a PRIME OPPORTUNITY to make it known that Chester will not tolerate this behavior. They're talking about it in Europe! Enough is Enough! I'm not sure I agree with you that the victim will recover from her wounds either. An assault like I witnessed in the youtube video leaves emotional wounds that persist. And it sounds like her life was already such a struggle. Sad, very sad.
ReplyDeleteI'm too lenient? I said the girls should be punished, arrested and charged.
DeleteI don't understand the basis for charging them as adults. This country has a juvenile justice system based on age. If it's that easy to bypass, than get rid of it all together and charge everyone as an adult.
Who is to say that a group of 10 year olds wouldn't commit the same crime? Should they be charged as adults, too?
Who gets to decide whether a teen, or child, is charged as an adult? What determines charging a teen or child as an adult?
So, you think being charged as adults will make it known that Chester will not tolerate this behavior? People have been charged for murder for years and that behavior continues to this day. Criminals commit crimes expecting to get away with it. Punishment for the crime is the last thing on their mind.
The girls who are under 18 should be charged as juveniles. If they are 18 and over, charged as adults. Plain and simple.
I've seen girls fitting this description go after a woman in a park. Literally, stalking her down through the park and on the streets, grabbing up wooden stakes from newly planted trees to shake and chase her with as they screamed after her. What is your proximity to this event? Would you want them as neighbors? Would you feel safe?
ReplyDeleteBut you didn't snitch. That's the difference.
DeleteDescribing the person who brought this horrible act to the attention of the authorities as a great snitch is wrong in so many ways! You played right into the street mentality!
ReplyDeleteWe should be honoring this person for standing up for what's right and saying this behavior is unacceptable
I didn't come up with the word snitch. But everyone knows what it means. Every cop would love to have more of them. More people would be arrested if there were more of them. The city would be safe if we had more of them.
DeleteIf I could, I'd honor that person with the Great Snitch of the Week Award.
If I say the girls should be arrested and charged, implied in that statement is that they did something illegal and unacceptable.
I agree using the word SNITCH is like saying it was wrong to come forward, in our society "snitch" is considered a bad thing to do, I would say Great Citizen awareness and public duty...you are right we all do know what it means which is why I wouldn't call that person a "snitch"
DeleteI agree, that the word "Snitch" is a negative/street description of those people who honorably reported this crime. As I understand it, the girls had previously beaten this woman, and their calls stopped future beatings of this woman or beatings of anyone else (this could be generation gap regarding language - meaning of word snitch). In addition, I agree that the girls should also be charged with "Home Invasion" if not done already. However, I am torn with such an outrageous crime with no remorse, whether they should be charged as juveniles or as adults - how do we know if these girls are not mentally challenged? Lastly, EUROPE, this crime was reported nationally (across the world with the video). This is an embarrassment to the City of Chester. This crime among other city crimes indicates that Chester is out-of-control starting from the kids moving up to the politicians (both parties)!
DeleteIf snitch is such a negative word, there's not wonder people don't snitch. According to y'all, that's been the problem all along with helping to solve crimes.
DeleteSomebody better take the word snitch out of the vocabulary right away.
They should be taught behavioral at home. If I did this, my parents would of put a beating on me, then called the police. Thats is what is wrong parents alwatys saying that wasn't my child or a relative saying they are just kids at least they didn't kill anyone. That comment makes me sick.
ReplyDeleteAnd again we disagree Stefan these girls should be charged as aduls
It's okay to disagree.
DeleteYou watch, if you keep letting this happen, boys and girls, younger and younger, will be tried as adults. If that's okay with you, fine.
I tend to approve of the juvenile justice system more than not.
I wonder how you would feel if it was your son or daughter that those girls beat up. Their probably 5'7", 160 pds. far from little children. If their old enough to hurt someone the way they did, I think the punishment needs to be harsher than a slap on the hand.
DeleteI'd feel bad if my son or daughter got beat up by anyone. These girls haven't been sentenced. Who said they got a slap on the hand.
DeleteI have 5 childern some go to the same schools as these girls. We all can have comments about this ISOLATED incident. Be careful because your child may be walking home from school with some classmates who have been watching utube fights then decided to do something to someone in the neighborhood.WHAT WOULD YOUR CHILD DO? Tell them to knock it off- walk away- get a kick in just to feel accepted by the kids in the neighborhoods.Think about Peer Pressure to fit in or be the next 1 who gets bullied for the rwest of the year? If this was in Ridley those kids would be put on probation and have to do community services.It should be done the same way for Chester Kids.
DeleteThese animals with the same mindset as Michael Vick should be tortured on Pay per View and the money given to charity. I'd buy 10 tickets.
ReplyDeleteYes, there are people who believe that beating a dog is the same as beating a person? Some believe a dog beating is worse.
DeleteHowever, this post focuses on whether kids should be tried as adults. The comments are all over the place.
Actually, they should not be tried at all. Their crimes, like those of the filth that is Michael Vick, are so beyond the pale that a new category for the legal system should be instituted. Summary execution on Pay per View
DeleteYou'd really pay to see people executed? What's that say about you.
DeleteThat's for others to say. For me I'd like to see Michael Vick and these young savages tied up, covered in BBQ sauce and eaten by wild inner city pit bulls. On second thought......I'd buy 20 tickets
DeleteYou have a bizarre taste in entertainment.
DeleteMR. ROOTS, YOU KNOW AS I THE WORD SNITCH IS A WORD OF RATTING ON SOMEONE.THIS IS NOT SNITCHING.THIS IS A PERSON REPORTING A CRIME,THESE GIRLS DIDNT TAKE CANDY FROM A DELI THEY COMMITED A CRIME ,,I HOPE THEY ALSO GET CHARGE FOR HOME INVASION,,,THEY ALL NEED A ASS KICKING,,
ReplyDeleteOh, I didn't know there was a difference in ratting on someone who committed a crime and reporting a crime that had been committed by someone.
DeleteI certainly don't know it all.
if stefan roots witnessed a crime, would he inform the police???
Deletegreat snitch of the week award???
I did report a crime. Called 911. Police responded immediately. The gun carrying teens were arrested. I thought I snitched. I guess I didn't.
DeleteYou didn't snitch, you reported a dangerous incident that probably saved a life. It is called being a responsible citizen. Perhaps if honorable people like yourself would change the words you use from "snitch" to something positive, then more people would take pride in their actions and would NOT be afraid to do the right thing.
DeleteThat's what I said in a reply to someone else. If folks think snitch is a bad word, we better stop using it.
DeleteAs a kid we called it tattle tale. In high school we were dropping a dime. I thought snitch was the new term everyone embraced. I guess not.
Roots - You sound like a real ass....
DeleteWhy?
DeletePut them in chains for the rest of their animal lives
ReplyDeleteI go back and forth about whether they should be tried as an adult. What they did scares me because I think I could have been the person they decided to attack. This person was just minding their own business and the girls just decided to attack her..What made them come to the decision to attack that woman. Maybe this topic of what the girls did needs to be a topic for the schools of Chester need to talk with the kids. Fighting and ganging up on people is not what should not be considered as something fun to do or the answer to disagreements..
ReplyDeleteSo, it's the nature of the crime that leads you to charge them as an adult?
DeleteDeath penalty!!!!
ReplyDeleteEnough said!!!
Imagine all the people who would be put to death as a result of bullying and street fights. That's not what you really mean, is it?
DeleteIf you want to act like savages, then that's exactly how you should be treated, regardless of age. Once you have the mental capability to understand right from wrong then you should be held accountable for your actions. The way they plotted and planned and carried out their actions of beating this woman viciously and in such a violent manner, they should bypass the right to be tried in juvenile court. What would they get, a slap on the wrist and told to think about their actions next time. They need a cruel and harsh punishment, one that will make them never ever ever commit another heinous crime such as this one for the rest of their lives. Right now they are showing NO remorse, which means they don't truly understand the depth of the crime they committed. There's only one way to make sure that happens. Try them as adults where the punishment will fit the crime! Teach them all a lesson including their families who are trying to dismiss this as a minor offense with their idiotic statements of "at least they didn't kill anybody." What?????? What if this beating had caused a massive stroke or a heart attack and led to her death?? Then what? What would be the excuse then? This needs to end now before these animalistic acting teens kill someone the next time!
ReplyDeleteAt what age do people have the mental capability to understand right from wrong?
DeleteMost released prisoners commit crimes again and go back to jail regardless of their punishment.
so why should we not punish them as adults? they'll be back in the system in a year or two when they reach 18. you know right well when people have the mental capacity to understand right from wrong. If it hasn't happened by age 16, then it ain't gonna happen and that's why we have the criminal justice system that we have. they will assess the mental capacity of these girls and if they find any evidence that any of them are incapacitated, then that will be reflected in their sentences. They are being tried as adults because this was a premeditated vicious assault on an unarmed and incapacitated woman AND they invaded her home. if they beat the hell out of you or your loved one would and invaded your home would you be such a bleeding heart liberal?
DeleteIf you think 16 and older should be charged as adults, I'll go for that. Now, the age is 18 and over.
DeleteA group of ten year olds could premeditate beating an adult and probably have somewhere. Should they be charged as adults?
I've been a victim of crime more than you can imagine. I've been shot and robbed by 3 young teens while coming off a train at Lamokin street station. I'm not into the eye for a eye thing. Sure, I wish they all get caught and punished but it didn't consume me so much that I stopped enjoying life.
Ive never been called a bleeding heart liberal. I'm almost insulted.
Knowing right from wrong happens from ages 5 to 7. These girls knew perfectly well what they were going to do and they did it and recorded it. NOt only are they criminals they are STUPID. Earlier in the day the woman gave them gum or candy. These girls targeted her, making it pre-meditated. An adult offence not juvenile. Nuff said.
DeleteYou'd try a 5 year old as an adult because they know right from wrong?
DeleteIt was interesting to note that moms,grandmothers,and aunts were in district court for araignment,but not one mention of a male figure.
ReplyDeleteThat's a fine observation.
DeleteCharge them as adults! It was premeditated. They want to fight and act like animals, put them in a cage with the real beast behind bars. Let's see how much fighting they want to do then. Now all of a sudden we should have sympathy for these violent thugs... Put them under the cell. It could have been my mother, sister, aunt or niece. They are lucky They didn't leave out in a body bag!!!
ReplyDeleteWho is showing sympathy for these violent thugs?
DeleteMr. Roots
ReplyDeleteIf you where a resident of the city of Chester and reported criminal activities to the authorities would you prefer to be labeled a concerned citizen helping to protect his or her community or a Rat and Snitch. These are terms used by children and thugs to undermine those of morals. Until you understand the power of these words there will be nothing gained here .
i am a Chester citizen and did report a crime. Called 911. Police responded immediately. The gun carrying teens were arrested. I thought I snitched. I guess I didn't.
DeleteWhen they get to prison, and a group of 5 or 6 seasoned inmates beat the crap out of each of them, then will the mothers/relatives be saying that 'kids b kids"...ha....ha
ReplyDeleteThat's what could happen if sent to an adult prison and it seems thats what a lot of repliers would like to happen.
DeleteWhere did the kids be kids comment come from?
A relative said "Kids will be kids comment in the Daily Times.
DeleteThank you.
DeleteThe same relative also said "at least they didn't kill anybody!"
DeleteThis Stefan roots fella seems to have an answer to everything ? The one girls attorney states that she is very confused and crying over what she did ? Does this not clearly let you see that she knows she's wrong ? The lawyer is doing what is known as posturing and from reading your replies you are doing what is known as defending ! Who wouldn't contact the authorities if they were the victim of a crime using a gun as you say ? You did what was right . Now our justice system needs to do the same with these young animals , charge them accordingly , zero tolerance ! They should also smack the shit out of the one who says they were just kid's being kid's ! Make a strong statement Mr . Whalen .
ReplyDeleteThere would be no point of publishing a blog if I refused to respond to your comments.
DeleteAs long as you are respectful, I will publish yours.
THANK YOU to the parent that turned these young ladies in,they know right from wrong ,no excuses whatsoever !!! they 've committed an crime they have to pay for it.An excellent example to all the young people who want to commit crimes and think u can get away with it.....Remember to "ALWAYS THINK TWICE" This is why they are building more prisons.
ReplyDeleteIt is arrogent to say the victim will recover from the wounds of the beatdown. You have know idea what these horrific acts had done to this mentally challenged woman. Yes, physically her body will heal but what about her mental state. Her life is changed FOREVER, she will never be the woman she was the night she was sitting on her front stoop. And the Juveniles are now world famous! Whooohoo! Good for them. Their lives are now forever changed.
ReplyDeleteYou may call it arrogant if you choose, but most people, including yourself, know that I was referring to physical, not mental wounds.
DeleteI DO think these little thugs need to be punished, but trying them as ADULTS when they are juveniles is just wrong. TRUST ME, when i say I was mad as hell when I saw the video, but they are STILL JUVENILES. If we start prosecuting ALL JUVENILES as adults, we need to just get rid of the JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM and JUVENILE DETENTION CENTERS. Who decides this juvenile vs. adult anyway? They looked like a group of young ladies, with NOTHING to do, one decided "watch me do this" and the other DUMMIES joined in (pack mentality). Sad, but at the end of the day if they are not of age (18), they are STILL JUVENILES.
ReplyDeleteI just wished that as they were beating that lady, some other people were in her house who could have turned the tables around and BEAT the crap out of them so they could get a better understanding of the fact that what they were doing was WRONG...
We really need to stop making excuses and justifications for the behavior of these kids and there total disregard for others, the community and even themselves. Yes, there are some children who suffer legitimate circumstances that trigger their behavior but many of these children (LIKE THESE GIRLS!) know exactly what they are doing and should be punished to the fullest! Stop playing with these kids and let them know this crap that their out here doing is unacceptable and won't be tolerated. These kids are constantly committing serious crimes and getting slaps on the hand. I'm so tired of it! and you parents of these kids....You know your child, you know if your child is one of those kids out here making trouble,you know if your child is a dealing drugs, fighting, you know what they do, you know if their in the streets, 10,11,12,13 years old etc. young kids and young teens outside all times of night For What? Why? It's rediculous! Get involved, do something with your child, ask questions, follow up on what their doing and what they tell you and stop blaming everyone else for your lack of parenting, motivation and Sorry! Weak Ass Choices! Say what you want but it's the truth. Stop! Haven't you had enough! We have to do better....If you make a true and real effort with your kids we can really do better as a community and stop this nonsense, Remember it all starts at home.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely think that these girls should be tried as adults. They committed an adult crime against someone, so welcome to the grown up world! They need to be held accountable for their actions...Teens and others their age or younger need to know that once the line between adolescence and adulthood is crossed then you have made the choice to "get what you get"! I see a group that chose to beat that woman because they knew she was not capable of fighting back, which in my opinion was a cowardly act to begin with. So how tough can you be if you jump and disabled person? C'mon now.... I hope they get plenty of time to think about what they've done and when they re-surface at age 21 they will be better people for it!
ReplyDeleteSo, you'd be okay if 10 year olds committing the same crime are tried as adults?
DeleteIf these girls are tried as adults, there's a chance that they won't resurface by 21.
The black culture has an excuse for all behavior. Let's face it every city in America that has high crime rates has majority of blacks. I would be ashamed to be black..... You all blame everyone except your culture, and the majority of your culture are the worst human beings on earth. Prove me wrong. That's why people call you animals. Kill, steal, take, don't work and blame the world.....
ReplyDeleteLets make a run-down of white crime: DUI, DWI, huffing, shooting up whole school campuses, killing their parents, embezzlement, extortion, men raping little boys for years, need I go on??? My point...don't categorize us all because of a few bad seeds!
Deleteevery culture has their criminal elements!!!!!!
Deletewow you paint a wide bl on black people white folks being killing each other four years ww1 ww 2 viatem
ReplyDeletehater team
ReplyDelete