Critical Analysis
Case 1: I would say due to the brutality and nature of the crime, I would prefer to send it to the adult courts. If this went to the courts, he would be the youngest juvenile to be tried as an adult.
1) The suspect stopped and chatted with the young boy before telling him he could show him a shortcut. This to me almost seems like he was looking for a victim, and then to create a conversation to lead the little boy to the spot where he would be killed shows premeditation. This would be considered an aggravating factor in substantial planning and premeditation.
2) The suspect sodomized the victim with a stick, and never had any history of being sexually abused in any way, showing the hatred and anger the child had. This could also be considered an aggravating factor in a heinous, cruel or depraved manner of committing the offense.
3) The child would routinely be beat by his stepfather and was called demeaning things I would need to know on a more in depth level, the amount of abuse this child suffered before I can make a legitimate response, but judging from what I know, my parents spanked me and would occasionally make negative remarks, and I knew several other kids who dealt with it as well, they did not go and beat a kid to death with a rock, nor did they sexually assault him with a stick, so with the evidence given, I would say it is not enough to legitimately say it affected the child mentally. This however, could be classified as a mitigating factor possibly for disturbance or other factors.
4) The kids in school classified him as a nerd and said he was picked on and bullied by other children constantly. Regardless of whether or not he was made fun of, the victim was never said to have made fun of the boy in any manner. The boy clearly picked someone he knew he could overpower and would not have a chance, again showing premeditation and that he is a danger to other children. I would say this is an aggravating factor as well.
Case 2: I would send this to juvenile court. At the end of the day the 14 year old was not the one who committed the actual murder.
1) The fourteen year old was under the influence of an adult, who clearly had hatred towards the victim due to their relationship ending. I would consider this a mitigating factor as the adult was most likely manipulating the child and it could be considered impaired capacity because of the manipulation and anger at the time.
2) Alex realized, once the incident was taking place that what he had planned was wrong, and tried to intervene, and in the process was stabbed in the hand. I think this shows that the child was clearly in an upset state of mind when he planned the event and would not have gone through with the plan if it was just himself. I think this would also be considered a mitigating factor.
3) Alex admitted his participation in the offense explaining that he was mad at his father at the time he made the plan to murder him. This shows that he is fully taking responsibility for his actions, regardless of knowing the consequences. This could be a mitigating factor as well.
4) Alex has no criminal history and had minimal contact with his mother. This could show a lack of nurturing and possibly abandonment in which in turn could have been why Alex responded in such a way as to plan the death of his father. I would say this could be a mitigating factor as, again he had no prior criminal record.
Case 3: I would try this case in juvenile court
1) George has no actual intention of hurting his sister he was just trying some moved he had learned; this could be a mitigating factor.
2) He was trying to show off his moves to his sister, not knowing that the move would kill her. I think this shows his innocence. The wrestling on the television doesn’t “kill” the opponent so he probably didn’t think it would kill his sister either. I would say this could be a mitigating factor.
3) The nine year old admitted his anger, but said he did not mean to hurt