Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins
Playing devil's advocate here, how culpable is our legal system in the deaths of these teenagers? It sounds like both sets were in the "catch and release" program, wherein everyone (including the authorities) knew what they were up to. I sense a good deal of frustration on the homeowners' parts, putting up with multiple break ins and thefts from the same kids. Kids that were allowed to walk each and every time. That would get pretty damn old.
And "baiting"? Really? One cannot "bait" an honest man into breaking into your home. One can make it appear a good opportunity for a thief, but the honest man would not see any "opportunity" whatsoever. The desire to steal must first be present before one would even consider such an "opportunity". How many police "entrapment" cases get dismissed? I suspect not all that many, or the oft reported drug and prostitution "stings" would be a monumental waste of time.
In the end, these kids chose, completely on their own volition, to enter homes in which they perceived an easy opportunity to steal. Many of you point out that the homeowners had the opportunity to, and should have warned them before opening fire. Maybe hold them at gunpoint for the police. O.k., great - now what? More catch and release? They won't be held any longer just because the homeowner caught them (as opposed to the police). And now they are likely rather upset with the homeowner, and they know where he lives...
It has to end somewhere. What recourse is there when the "system" consistently fails to protect the homeowner? The kids had not gotten violent yet, preferring to sneak around unnoticed, but many of these young thieves get bolder and bolder and the stakes get higher and higher. Should the homeowners be forced to wait for a violent encounter engendered by these kids, are they obligated to wait until a loved one gets hurt? That's a tough question. I would hate to see one of their wives, or children, laying there dead with the hand-wringing ninnies lamenting "but he was such a good kid"...
We had a punk like this in our neighborhood many years ago. He was breaking into cars at first, then garages, then homes. He was caught multiple times but never did any "time". He finally burned a house down, just for kicks. The family moved away over ten years ago, but guaranteed this miscreant is out there, wherever he is, continuing to cost good people their possessions, time, and money. One of us should have shot him.
|