Over the past several years, people in the United States have been victims and witnesses or horrendous acts committed by juvenile offenders. Criminal justice personnel and psychologists have to face tough questions about what to do when a child potentially poses a threat. The article in the link below summarizes a threat posed by two very young boys, which resulted in them being put into a juvenile facility for years. The case I am asking you to consider is a bit extreme. Some threats we hear as psychologists are more subtle, and make it harder to judge. Give this article a quick read Or see my abstracted version below, and tell us: Should they HAVE been imprisoned? Why or why not? He explained that the girl had been picking on him and his friends. The plan was for Adam to be the “shooter” and for David to be the “knifer.” Adam answered similarly, saying the girl had been rude to him and his friends. The officer felt both boys se
emed without remorse or emotion. He pressed Adam, making sure he understood the implications of this, and Adam said, “Yes, I just want her dead.” (The boys’ confessions to Scott Arms were later ruled inadmissible at trial, as Arms did not explain to the guardian of either boy that it was they, rather than Adam or David, who were responsible for waiving Miranda rights.) with Debbie Rogers about the plot, expanding on the planned scale of the violence. . David chattered freely about his plan, as well as the physical threat he posed, on the day of his arrest (he tapped on the glass of the in-school suspension room to motion a detective closer, before informing him, “I just want to let you know,” as he raised his fists, “that I’m in tae kwon do and can really use my hands, and when you take me out of school you better put the handcuffs behind my back”), yet, unlike Adam, he mentioned only one intended victim in all of his interviews.