the worst is true: MA teacher raped before being murdered by 14 year old student

[magical thyme]

309. you have yet to provide one iota of scientific evidence backing your claims

(or statistical evidence for that matter), never mind a link to sources.

Sorry to inform you of this, but your word does not equal scientific or statistical evidence.

It seems you are trying to claim the moral high ground based on science that you repeatedly claim the rest of us are ignorant of, without providing any supporting data.

Sorry, but that's not going to fly with me or apparently a host of other people around here.

I'll take people's anecdotes plus my personal experience of having been 14 and having known many 14 year olds in my life over empty claims any day of the week.

Personally, I have yet to meet a 14 year old who did not understand that death is permanent, that murder is wrong, and that the consequences of murdering somebody else is that you're going to jail for life. I remember being 14; I never considered rape or murder to be anything other than morally wrong, not to mention rapists and murderers as being anything other than a danger to society.

Furthermore, I was against the death penalty at that age, and believed totally in rehabilitation and passive resistance against violence. To the point where at age 14, I allowed a larger child to punch me while I passively sat chanting mantras until he got bored and walked away. As an adult, I believe I should not be required to tolerate beatings, or worse, by disaffected, angry others. I have a right to not be beaten or worse, and those who knowingly and deliberately violate my right should lose theirs.

Furthermore, I have a young neighbor who's brain development is permanently stuck at around 7-8 years old according to her mother. I'll wager *she* understands that death is permanent and that murder is wrong and that the consequences of murder are jail for life. Same with the developmentally disabled bagger at the local supermarket.

This child will be tried as an adult because the nature of the crime was such that any 14 year old would knew it was wrong.

It is not likely that he will be found not guilty due to insanity because the manner in which he conducted the crime -- bringing a change of clothes and hiding the body -- suggests that he was trying to avoid being caught so he understood he was doing wrong.

The fact that he was caught due to stupid mistakes does not in any way exonerate him. Prisons are full of adult murderers who were caught due to stupid mistakes.

The fact that he was "only" 14 does not exonerate him from the consequences of rape and murder. Rapists and murderers are a danger to society.