So Much Wrong

Here’s the synopsis: In Oxnard, California, a 14-year-old boy is being charged as an adult (and with a hate crime enhancement) for the shooting murder of a gay classmate [as of this morning, the victim was brain dead and there were plans to remove the ventilator keeping him alive]. The victim had a troubled past and at the time of his death was living in a shelter for troubled children. He had started to wear some women’s clothes and makeup to school, a development that apparently upset the boy who would later shoot him. The day after a confrontation involving both boys, one was dead and the other was charged with his murder. The shooter, who just turned 14 in January, is being charged as an adult and faces 50 years to life in prison.

There’s so much that’s troubling in this incident that it’s hard to parse it out. It’s upsetting, of course, that an adolescent boy would feel such homophobia and hatred at such a young age. It’s terrible that he had access to a loaded gun and that he was able to bring it to school. But it’s also terrible that a 14-year-old is being charged as an adult and may spend the rest of his life in jail. Of course, what he did is reprehensible. But are we prepared to say that a 14 year old understands his actions and their consequences as an adult does, and that he should be treated as such? Keep in mind that this boy just turned 14 last month; 14 is the cutoff for charging as an adult in California.