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Victor Jimenez
Mr. Rodriguez
Period 3
11/7/11
Lil’ Killers “Let them be”, “they’re just kids,” and many other phrases are used by many adults when children make mistakes or do “bad things”. There is a difference, however, between doing bad things and committing crimes. When a kid hits another kid while playing, it is a mistake or sometimes it is just part of the game; but when he lacerates the liver of a six year old, or shoots his teacher on the head, it is a completely different thing. It is not right to charge these violent criminals as juveniles, because they do not deserve to be tried as something they are not. And they are not kids anymore.
In June 2000, Nathaniel Brazill was charged as an adult for first degree murder. On the last day of school in May of that same year, Nathaniel was sent home early because he had been throwing water balloons. He had no time to say goodbye to his friends, so he went to his house, got a gun that belonged to his grandfather, and demanded to his teacher, Barry Grunow, to let him see them. Grunow did not take him seriously enough, so he cocked the gun. Then he fired one bullet at his teacher’s head and killed him on the spot. “The teacher's widow, Pam Grunow, came to the sentencing hearing, carrying a quilt made by her husband's students. She told the judge, ‘Maybe tomorrow, another woman's husband, another little boy's daddy and another great teacher won't be sacrificed in an angry, crazy moment.’” (Roche 1)
In court and in some interviews, Nathaniel explained that pulling the trigger was not his intention, and that it had all been an accident. His mother and some teachers do in fact still see him as the good honors student he was. Yet, after some months in prison, they have all noticed the change. It forced him to show his uncaring, sullen self; his true self. “Someday, Nate is likely to be serving a sentence for a crime that has receded like any childhood memory… Thirty years from now, Nate probably won't remember
Mr. Rodriguez
Period 3
11/7/11
Lil’ Killers “Let them be”, “they’re just kids,” and many other phrases are used by many adults when children make mistakes or do “bad things”. There is a difference, however, between doing bad things and committing crimes. When a kid hits another kid while playing, it is a mistake or sometimes it is just part of the game; but when he lacerates the liver of a six year old, or shoots his teacher on the head, it is a completely different thing. It is not right to charge these violent criminals as juveniles, because they do not deserve to be tried as something they are not. And they are not kids anymore.
In June 2000, Nathaniel Brazill was charged as an adult for first degree murder. On the last day of school in May of that same year, Nathaniel was sent home early because he had been throwing water balloons. He had no time to say goodbye to his friends, so he went to his house, got a gun that belonged to his grandfather, and demanded to his teacher, Barry Grunow, to let him see them. Grunow did not take him seriously enough, so he cocked the gun. Then he fired one bullet at his teacher’s head and killed him on the spot. “The teacher's widow, Pam Grunow, came to the sentencing hearing, carrying a quilt made by her husband's students. She told the judge, ‘Maybe tomorrow, another woman's husband, another little boy's daddy and another great teacher won't be sacrificed in an angry, crazy moment.’” (Roche 1)
In court and in some interviews, Nathaniel explained that pulling the trigger was not his intention, and that it had all been an accident. His mother and some teachers do in fact still see him as the good honors student he was. Yet, after some months in prison, they have all noticed the change. It forced him to show his uncaring, sullen self; his true self. “Someday, Nate is likely to be serving a sentence for a crime that has receded like any childhood memory… Thirty years from now, Nate probably won't remember