Youth or Consequences

[Geee]

American Spectator:

Probably not what Dr. Martin Luther King meant when he spoke of being "free at last."

Last week, a judge in St. Louis released seven middle school students after the key witness failed to show up for a hearing. The juveniles were accused of beating a local man almost to death. What had the poor man done to deserve such a thrashing? Not a thing. He was simply walking home from the grocery store. The attack, it turned out, was part of a popular craze our local youth call the knockout game, though it is anything but a game. One elderly man has already died from a similar assault.

After the dismissal, the teens celebrated outside the courtroom, high-fiving one another.

Police had arrested the young thugs after they bragged about the beatings on a Facebook page. Evidently, the teens believed society could do nothing to them, even if they crowed publicly about their exploits. It turns out they were right.

One of the teens agreed to testify. However, the witness, a 13-year old girl, soon had second thoughts, no doubt after her life was threatened. The news seemed to re-enforce the notion (already prevalent among county residents) that St. Louis city is little more than a petri dish from hell, a holding pen for the region's most violent, a real-life "Escape from New York," the sci-fi movie in which the city has been turned into a giant maximum security prison without guards. (Ironically, director John Carpenter's film was shot, not in New York, but in St. Louis.)
ADOLESCENTS, OF COURSE, are notorious for their aggressive behavior, their lack of empathy, and their inability to visualize long-term consequences. Such has always been the case. This is why parental discipline is so essential. The fact that the delinquents were allowed to celebrate in the courthouse after successfully intimidating a witness (normally a class C felony), and getting away with assault and battery, and that no one stepped in to quell their gaiety, clearly illustrates that they are without responsible adults in their lives.

Most readers, I suspect, are unable to imagine living in a world in which actions do not have consequences. Had I, in my youth, committed such an act of barbarism -- which in itself was unlikely, least of all for fear of my father's reaction -- my dad would have made me apologize to the victim, then dragged me home by the ear where I would have been ordered to "pick my switch." Had I even contemplated threatening a witness, I would have been packed off to military school immediately.

[Rokke]

More and more there are certain cities in America that are essentially off limits to normal people. It used to be certain neighborhoods in some cities. Now, you're better off just avoiding the whole city. Oakland, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Memphis, Baltimore, Milwaukee... Scary.

[Casino67]

I listen to the Baltimore City police scanner and they seem to be underfunded and undermanned. The oncoming shift is always asking if any of the outgoing shift want to work overtime. And the dispatcher's computers are always down and can't provide any info on detainees or car stops. Benefits and entitlements are eating up their budget no doubt. And then they spent a ton of money sponsoring a gran prix race thru the city streets this summer. Lost money on that too. Democrat controlled city council.

[RandyM]

Last lines of the article:

 

The 52-year-old victim told a local newspaper that a few days after the suspects' release, he encountered two of the teens (he recognized them from court) outside the same supermarket. One walked up to him and acted as though he were going to punch him in the face. Then they strode off laughing.

 

Their mothers would have been proud.

 

There's the rub. It's a systemic problem that has been growing for generations. The parents, if they're still around, grew up just like the young hoodlums... they were hoodlums, too, when they were young. Maybe not quite as bad, but bad nonetheless. It's always "their fault", that being someone besides themselves. A total lack of personal responsibility or moral compass in this country today.

 

And the same mindset is reflected in the Occupy protests,liberal media, DNC, etc.