Washington state fifth graders plotted to kill girl, authorities say

[avebury]

10. It is called being a realist.

The boys came up with a well thought out plan, bribed a potential witness, and only got caught because another kid saw the knife and reported it. I think that they probably knew exactly what they were doing. If you investigate these boys further there is probably earlier warning signs that there were serious problems. You can't just blame the schools. You also need to investigate the families. The gun culture of this country does not help at all. Guns are too readily available. There was a grandfather who gave a grandson (brother of one of the kids) the semi-automatic gun. First question - what on earth does any kid need with a semi-automatic gun? And then the gun is left laying around. Second question - When did it become acceptable for a kid to leave a semi-automatic gun just laying around? People like this should not even be reproducing.

You can give these kids all of the psychiatric therapy in the world and there is no way that I would ever want them anywhere near a child of mine or want them living in my neighborhood. I would never ever ever trust them.

I knew a guy years ago who got his degree in Psychology and went to work at the Maine Youth Center. He began his job with hopes of being able to help troubled children and to make a difference. Later on he told me that actual real world experience taught him that most of the kids should have been locked up for good and the key thrown away. He told me a few stories about some of the kids he dealt with, like the kid who liked to act up in order to be sent to the state mental hospital in Augusta. His goal - to get out on pass where he had a record of killing small animals. That kid was a serial kid in the making.