13 yo allegedly rapes 5 year old girl...

the parents are responsible for this

Has to be some kind of control on what kids watch and are exposed to, one thing to think that a person like this is born evil, another thing to think about how many sexual assaults, and murders this boy has surely seen on TV and the net, in films and programmes. There is a process of destruction in the mind that occurs that results in a thirteen year old acting out on what he's seen countless times on TV or the net.

This is a very serious crime, 13 is definitely an age where a person has enough self awareness to know the difference between right and wrong, and the possibility of consequence. Enough severity of the law should be enforced to know, and send a message to the rest of us, that regardless of age, you will not get away lightly with sexual assault. As someone has already mentioned, he may have been the product of a destructive environment, having been abused repeatedly himself by an elder, over the years, acting out from a extremely troubled mind; two sides to everything, enough sensitivity should be exercised to reflect this. Greatly halting the possibility of reoffending should be reflected in the punishment. Tragic case, for both parties, when you think about it.

Like one of the comments at the bottom of the article says; we don't know if he was abused himself and was now mirroring the act? Of course no excuse but maybe not such a straightforward case.

1. They are children or teenagers who are sexually curious or experimenting.

2.They have a medical or mental problem that needs treatment.

3. They are opportunists, who lack feelings for others and who have an antisocial personality disorder.

4. They have an ongoing sex drive directed toward children.

I was going to say the exact same thing, this is clearly odd behavior and it sounds as if he was abused himself. I always find it when people call for public lynching of people like this, this young. Sad for everyone involved.

It comes down to how much you value the life of a child. If it was me, I'd vote to kill all child molesters/rapist.

In this case, the child molester/rapist is a child himself. How do you then justify his murder? I don't think any of us are in a position to judge which child's life is more valuable, which is exactly what you're doing here.

He is a minor. He should be tried as a minor.

Nah, to me he isn't a child. His a teen. There's a big difference.

When I was his age I knew what was wrong from right and so did most people.

And yet if it the headline was "thirteen year old boy raped by thirty five year old man" I'm sure you'd all be jumping up and down about how awful child abuse is and how anybody who rapes a child should be hung, drawn and quartered.

Most toddlers, having been told by their parents frequently enough, know that shop lifting is "wrong". I don't think anybody would suggest that a three year old should be subjected to the same punishment as a thirty three year old for stealing though. Knowing the difference between right and wrong doesn't stop you being a child.

Hate it when people jump to conclusions and just want to demonise somebody so young

No, they don't. Most toddlers only know stealing is wrong in so far as they've been told that stealing is wrong and/or received discipline for stealing. Whereas teenagers possess the cognitive ablity to know why they shouldn't steal and don't have to not do it simply because someone told them to rather they can form their own opinion.

Some teenagers possess the cognitive ability to know why they shouldn't steal. At thirteen, development differs vastly between different people. Constant abuse, neglect, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, sexual perversion or any number of other possibilities would seriously delay or warp a child's sense of right and wrong. We know absolutely nothing about his circumstances. Judgement of his abilities seem a little presumptuous, don't they?

Plus, as I said before, he's a minor. He should be treated as such. Not necessarily because of the crime, but because of the different means of dealing with said crime depending on age. A minor's punishment will be better suited to his requirements.

You do realize that all those things could also affect the cognitive ablity of an adult, right?

It would cost much less for him to be killed than put in prison and then pay for his therapy also.

I do indeed, but I also realise that they're far more likely to affect the cognitive ability of a child. A thirteen year old who gets raped, beaten or left to fend for himself every evening when he gets home from school is more likely to behave inappropriately than an adult who remembers these things happening to him twenty years ago.

A very slippery slope. What if you got it wrong? What if it turned out you an innocent child for a crime they hadn't committed? What if, guilty or otherwise, he grew up and became somebody remarkable? A doctor, a priest (no nasty annecdotes please), a fireman. You can't pretend you're all up for protecting the welfare of children when you're so willing to condemn the most vulnerable kids in our society because you think it'll cost us less in the long run. That's a society that I, for one, would do just about anything to denounce.

You were 13 and you knew what rape was?

Well that speaks for everybody then, so just punish him without a trial, because if you knew, he must of.


Edit: Wow Tsr makes me lol. Dare mention anything about Britain and being patriotic and you get slammed for being a bit right wing, comes to crime, everybody deserves locking up and putting on lists and them silly lefties don't get a look in.

So fickle.