12-year-old arrested in bar robbery

[Bucky]

12-year-old arrested in bar robbery
http://omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10584803

The robbery lasted two minutes, according to a surveillance video. But it felt like "forever" for the owner of a bar robbed early Thursday by three males.

Police say one robber was a 12-year-old boy.

Bar owner Lilly Estes said she was punched in the jaw by one of the robbers. The three came into the California Bar, 510 N. 33rd St., about 12:15 a.m. Thursday wearing masks, she said. The shortest of the three was holding a gun.

"I couldn't believe it; two came behind the bar," said Estes. "I stood still."

One cursed at her to move, then punched her."

Estes said she was scared to death and wasn't looking for details, but she noticed that the three were shorter than her. She is about 5-foot-8.

Estes said she followed the three robbers out of the bar to see which way they went. She also turned over the security video to police.

I hear all the time about how Korean kids beat American kids in math and how German 10 year olds are better prepared to learn science and engineering than American teenagers--but how many German or Korean kids have the straight up balls to knock over bar? Huh, how many?

U!! - S!! - A!!!
U!! - S!! - A!!!
U!! - S!! - A!!!

[Ikonoklast]

1. Those kids were lucky.

They could all have gotten themselves shot.

Bars around these parts have more weaponry than a platoon.

[MrCoffee]

2. Charge his punk ass as an adult

[Bucky]

3. Absolutely: He obviously was capable of making an adult level judgment call here

There actually is a pretty good reason why we don't charge juveniles as adults for commiting the same crimes. This kid wasn't getting the adult supervision and guidance he needed and is naturally entitled to as a human being. He should be punished, but as a 12 year old apparently under the supervision of some pretty amoral older teenagers (the oldest was 18) he almost certainly wasn't in a position to (or possessed of the ability to) extricate himself from the situation.

Charging juveniles as adults isn't really getting "tougher on crime." In this case, it would simply be giving up on the ability of a pre-teenager to turn his life around.