"The 14 year old shooter has been charged as an adult with Attempted Murder"

[PDJane]

16. I don't know about you, but I would consider a child to be anything under 19 or so.

And no, the age itself doesn't really matter. However, a 14 year old is a child emotionally, in spite of brilliance. My son read "The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire" during his summer break the year he turned 10. No matter how intelligent he was and is, no matter his grasp of speculative physics or computer theory, his grasp of the difference between reality and fantasy was tenuous at best, and his view of morality was absolute.

Jailing, for instance, a 15-year-old shot in the back in Afghanistan, leaving him to be tortured, and then claiming his guilt of a crime he had his back to at the time is outrageous (Ohmr Kadr).

The life sentence should not be handed out by rote, and the death penalty is a barbaric leftover. The way we treat prisoners, of whatever age and condition, is disgusting, and it's not the way to rehabilitate people or even care for their physical needs. Long sentences are a waste of time for both the watcher and the watched.