8th-Grade Boy Stabbed 40 Times

telling about a motive. I did find an article from the news posted at a forum that is very chilling. I don't think the actual motive is known or was ever clear even to the kid that did it.

Posted at forum

A 14-year-old accused of killing a classmate recorded his violent obsessions, fixations on prayer and detailed plans for self-improvement in a journal made public by prosecutors on Friday.

At the bottom of a printout on mass murderers, Michael Hernandez scrawled this message: "Will become a serial killer."

The journal -- released by the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office following public records requests -- offers a glimpse into the conflicted mind of an eighth-grader who dwelled on common teenage problems such as acne and homework, but also fixated on cults and murder.

It also might shed light on how a straight-A student allegedly could murder his best friend, then confess to detectives but offer no explanation.

According to police, Hernandez packed a serrated knife and a latex glove in his book bag before heading off to school, where he stabbed 14-year-old Jaime Gough in the boy's bathroom on Feb. 3. Gough bled to death in a bathroom stall.

A grand jury indicted Hernandez on a first-degree murder charge for the slaying. He will be tried as an adult.

... a third criminal justice system for violent youthful offenders. The issue is not whether the individual is legally an "adult" and afforded all the priveleges associated with that legal standing (e.g. voting, driving, drinking, etc.). The issue is whether or not the individual is capable of comprehending the consequences of their actions and/or the right/wrong of it. A 14 year old is more than capable of understanding that stabbing another (repeatedly at that) will likely result in their death. As such he should face the same penalties for the action as if he were 20 or 90. He took a life, the boy who died and his family are not consoled by the fact that it was a "child" who killed him.

However, since the Tate case brought these issues to the forefront (his mother was the one legally making the decision to reject the initial plea but then he was treated as any other adult in court), we do need a special system for these crimes. The old juvie system where the kid goes to a juvie detention facility until age 18 doesn't cut it either.

know it and act accordingly.

The death penalty is actually quite effective. Those on whom it is used never kill again. I hear concealed carry laws are also quite effective.

What democratic nations do have public hangings as part of their judicial system? And if it is an effective method to combat crime, I assume there is no need for public hangings in those countries that permit it...