Sunday, October 16, 2016
A 13 Year Old Adult
Last week we watched the "Playtime" court case video in class, and in that case, they tried Lionel Tate, a 13 year old boy as an adult. I don't know about you guys, but I still can't believe he was tried as an adult. He's 13, barely a teenager with no record and clearly her death wasn't planned (qualifications for murder of the first degree). Not only did they try him as an adult, but in the court room, he was treated as a minor, not letting him decide whether or not to take the plea deal, but his mother. If you are legally tried as an adult, then you should be treated like one.
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I agree with what you are saying. Kathleen, who is Lionel's mother, reject the plea offer multiple times saying that her son was innocent. This choice should have been left to Lionel himself if he was being tried in an adult court. I think Lionel knew about his strength and size compared to Tiffany, but did not really take it into consideration, how much damage he could do, when he was playing with her. Another question that I have is, what qualifies a minor to be tried in an adult court?
ReplyDeletePersonally I do not think a young minor should be able to be tried as an adult, like a 13 year old. They are still a child, and for no reason, be treated like an adult.
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ReplyDeleteFrom what I understand, the idea of trying minors as adults is that some crimes are so clearly and thoroughly planned that they can only be the work of someone with the awareness of an adult, which this crime is not. At all. It's completely bizarre.
ReplyDeleteI think that you bring up a very interesting stance. If it were us being tried, we could very easily be thought of as adults because most of us are near 18 years old. Just because Lionel was a big kid, that does not mean that his brain is fully developed, making it unfair to try him as a person that is actually 5 years more developed than he actually is.
ReplyDeleteI think that you bring up a very interesting stance. If it were us being tried, we could very easily be thought of as adults because most of us are near 18 years old. Just because Lionel was a big kid, that does not mean that his brain is fully developed, making it unfair to try him as a person that is actually 5 years more developed than he actually is.
ReplyDeleteI really like the stance that you took on this because it was exactly how I was viewing the case. It was clear that the damage to her body was very extreme and it seemed to be on purpose, but like you said he was only 13 years old and was tried as an adult. I found it pretty crazy especially because he didn't have any other criminal records, but he did have a history of being violent and was known for bullying smaller kids in his grade. It was surprising that because of that history he had, and the amount of harm he caused it made it so the judicial system tried him as an adult.
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