Thirteen-years-old Peter Barton (not his real name) was playing with a little girl of 6. Claiming that he was pretending to be a professional wrestler, peter punched, kicked and stamped the playmate to death. Her liver was severely damaged; her skull was fractured and the medical experts compared the injuries to a fall from the top of the house. Peter was tried in court as an adult and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole when he is 38.
“What we are dealing with is a new kind of childhood criminal. They are starting younger and they know what they are doing. They won’t think twice about killing” said the Florida State District Adam Emmit. The state of California alone registered 312 homicides committed by minors which must of them were gun-related.
Discussion questions for your comment:
Peter claimed he was pretending to be a wrestler. Could he be saying the truth?
Is it really possible that a 13 year-old boy could intentionally kill a young girl?
Are children the same as they have always been, or are they really different these days?
What do you think about the punishment was given to Peter?
Peter obviously was not a fighter and a fighter does not make as strong deletions. a boy of 13 years if you can accidentally kill someone, and they play with dangerous things and sometimes without adult supervision, but should be punished not only the child but also the adults responsible for the parent were to be also punished. Children now play in the streets and do not play sports, what they do is watch TV all day and play games and not games or educational programs almost everybody has to do with fighting or war or other negative things. The punishment seems very strong that responsibility is not only the child's parents also are they who have to care for their children and give them the best education and best values
ResponderEliminarHe cannot expect people to believe what he says because anyway he is older than the girl. He may have mental problems but that is something that has to be investigated by the police and undercover detectives. He is not a child, he is almost a teenager, he has to know that he couldn’t fight with a younger girl in this way. However we don’t know how is the life of this guy, where he belongs maybe he could kill the girl intentionally or maybe he couldn’t. Children are not the same now as they were before, of course not all are the same, there are many children growing up in a good home. And about the punishment I think is rude because even he is not a child is does not mean he is an adult they have to look for another punishment for him.
ResponderEliminarI think kids now if they are different because they are bred in a materialistic and more violent as these children are no longer playing in a healthy way, maybe Peter did not do it intentionally and did not know what would happen to the child. The way we had to pay the consequences was not the most appropriate for a child his age could be knowing or unintentionally. Some children if they have the intention to do harm by what they see in their homes or by the type of family that live and refect the problems in the way they behave. There are about that age and commit crimes and are doing. In my opinion if you told the truth because many children play that way and so as they are given a second chance for many people Peter could also have it.
ResponderEliminarThe TV as a mass media is very important because it a way to relax and have fun from our daily stress, but at the same time it’s a way to influence the kids and young people to make things that aren’t right to their age and may hurt somebody else. I think that the intention of the kid was just to play with the girl but the kids should have been supervised by a responsible adult when they are playing even when they watch the TV. It’s possible that he didn’t see the consequences about his actions and do it without any bad intention but he should receive help from professionals for the mental damage that could be killing a girl at his age. I believe that the punishment isn’t correct to his age and it was too hard for a kid that could have internal problems on his house or illness.
ResponderEliminarmay be true that a child is even and has a lot
ResponderEliminarimagination, but imagination so sometimes the kids do really weird acts or experiences so pasoion for his game that do things that no conscious being would. within your imagination eomo in the case of Peter is so into his game that unconsciously do things like kill a girl of six years. all historical contexts are different and children have changed as our population, before children could play everywhere gave them more freedom and not so common these cases, but today children spend waxed in their houses as they were animals and the desire to be free to take ations are bad. I pass that is good and its bad look that good because they are seeing that in this world any punishment or ation has a reward and he knows what he did was bad, but bad because instead of waxing and treated like can bring criminal psychological changes
I dont really think that he didnt know what he was doing, he comited a mistake and he has to repaired.. but i'm disagree with the decision of sent him for a long time to the jail because he was a kid and maybe he didnt understand the real consequences of that he did in that moment and i dont think that he can change and reflec about what he did, the jail dont usually help people to change. Maybe he could be punishment by other way. The kids nowadays are too diferent than bafore, because they receive a lot of information and publicity from the TV, the internet and maybe they cant controled and assimilate all those things and they react in a wrong way, I think that the parents have to improve the way with they educated the children because if in their homes, they receive positive influences, probably they are going to be better persons.
ResponderEliminarI think the boy was playing and perhaps the damage caused to the child was not intentional, but anyone at that age know that a punch that you gives a girl of that age can be fatal, as in this case. Moreover, where are the parents of these children? I think that is irresponsible to let them play alone and there are the consequences. Truly children are not the same these days and their mentality has changed. Although I think the punishment is not fair for a child that we don’t know if really want to hurt the girl or actually he just was playing.
ResponderEliminarwe can't judge Peter as an intencional killer if we don't know his backgorund. maybe the enviroment where he grow up wasn't good, the things he saw and that he thought they were normal. we are talkin about a 13 year odl kid, and definetly that's not the right behavior of a boy of his age. perhaps he had a psycological problem that nobody notice before and told him to recieve treatment.
ResponderEliminarthere could be two possibilities in this case.
first taht Peter knew what he was doing, he was conscious about it and continue doing it, or that he thought he wasn't doing anything wrong.
The othe question is, Where were the parents of the six years old girl, and Peter parents?... Why they let this happens?
Children nowadays can be very as they always have been, or at least how we thought they were. Now they have a lot of factors that can affect their behaviors. Such as technology, and inattentive parents.
As is i said before sending Peter to prison they should make a research of his mental health. it could be that sending him to prison can be a bad decition. Killing is a crime no matter at what age you commit it or if you are a boy or a girl. you are taking someone's life and is not right. they should find a better option to Peter. And if it's not tha case that he has a mental disease, he should recieve the right punishment.
Well I think that Peter was telling the truth because every child when this as a child likes to play of professional wrestler because it this is something very common at these ages. I think that did not know was an accident what was going to happen to her and Peter insurance made a bad move that ended in a disaster but did not know what that age is still very innocent towards. Currently I think that the children are changing how were before as with the television programs that are currently they are causing a serious effect on them. This evil as punishment because what happened was an accident and also not is it can punish that way a child would be an injustice to punish someone for something that was a simple accident and less case of a child that as I said before don't know what to.
ResponderEliminarHe might was saying the truth, but I am not sure about that because he had thirteen I mean he was a child but not like those of four or five year who does not know the consequences of what they do, he had the enough age for known that did not have to hit anyone and never to a six year old girl.
ResponderEliminarI think kids today do not live in the same environment than before, besides violence and the value of life have never been worse than now. By the other hand it do not think that that were the best punishment because it obvious that he is not an adult at all.
Peter is a child and as every child likes to play and at that age is very game think I is a wrestler for this reason I believe that peter was telling the truth and he was not telling them lies to the Court. The child never will thing what happened now that was an accident and did not know what was going to happen with the girl and that was going to finish this. They are different since the television and the media influence the behaviour of children as they pass programs with more violence than in times past and this affects them. Bad because it's a boy and I've been treated as an adult besides that what happened was an accident and no child should go to jail because they are unaware of their actions and less going to intentionally causing the death of a person.
ResponderEliminarI believe that he might be saying the truth, he was a kid when that happened and kids sometimes pretend to be someone they admire or a character they have seen in movies or TV series, but anyway he was in his 5 senses and he knew what he was doing so he knew he was killing the little girl. May be he didn’t do it on purpose because he was playing, he was a kid, but that doesn’t makes an excuse, a 13 year old knows what’s good and what’s wrong, and if he saw that he was really hurting the other girl, he could just stop his game and realize what he was doing. Kids have changed a lot, now days they have computers, cell phones, ipods and all that kind of things that kids 10 years ago didn’t have, also the television in this days is very different and most of all, bloody, no matter what time it is, movies and shows always present violence and that’s what kids see and they try to be like the actors in those movies, we have to do something to change that. He was sentenced as an adult, but he killed a girl, so yes, it was the right punishment for him, everyone, no matter the age or gender, that kills a person should be punished.
ResponderEliminarPeter probably was telling the truth in court, I do not think he did that intentionally, almost always children at this age are very immature and like to play that kind of thing and thought maybe if I was a fighter, Peter did not take into consider what might happen the consequences that this was going to leave the children at that age usually do not measure the danger, and play very dangerous things. I feel that children today are very different than they once were, have different ways of thinking and influencing things such as television, computer, electronic games etc, but this does not mean to kill someone but I do not think was intentionally not think a boy of thirteen because he wants to kill someone. With regard to the statement from my point of view I see it very badly because he is not an adult to be punished as such, is a term of many years and it is unfair for a child so young, and more if it was a accident.
ResponderEliminarI think Peter really was pretending to be fighting with it, children do not know how to measure the danger or the consequences of their actions can cause, so Peter just played and did not realize the real damage he was doing to his little friend.
ResponderEliminarChildren have always been the same, only now with the influence of television and all those things that your message is not always good for children, including such things with a thought and personality are not always appropriate in this case Peter was violent.
I think the punishment is unfair because Peter that he is a minor, must be tried as a juvenile and be aware that he was not sure his actions, maybe a reformatory.
Peter can not really judge whether he believed to be a fighter or what he did was intentional without knowing the environment in which the child was growing up, he was a child and perhaps they even what he did was not thinking about the consequences.
ResponderEliminarIt is possible that a child of that age could kill another, however, allowing us to judge or not is for reasons he did. A murder is not justified but it must analyze the murderer.
Kids today are different because they have no bow-legged but because the environment in which a child grows up today is very different, it is very difficult to keep a child completely away from violence.
I think is fair punishment just for a murderer but a bit heavy for a child, crime is bad but look good to the alleged criminal, because the possibility exists that this is a person with disorders because of the environment in which it operates.
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ResponderEliminarPeter could be saying the truth because maybe his intentions were not hurt his friend and less kills her. Intentionally he might not wanted to kill his friend, he only wanted to play and “practice” for his dream, but he must thought about what he was doing because he had the enough age to be responsible for acts like that. Children are not the same as before, that’s something everybody can note, these days not every child you see is cute or you say “he’s so nice” because you note even only with their appearance that they’re not good kids, a lot of them even steel at that age and that’s because of the place and the environment they grow up. Peter was punished well, but may be not so hard, some years of his punishment must be used giving him a therapy so he could knows what he did and they could help him not do it again.
ResponderEliminar1. Yes he could be telling the truth and probably in his innocence he didn´t though about the consequences of what he really was doing.
ResponderEliminar2. Of course, because a child of 13 years is able to differentiate between what is right and what is wrong and obviously attacking and see suffering on another human being is not right.
3. Of course not because the children of know a days are smarter and know more about life and the consequences of doing something wrong because the television teach them to fight and see a lot of blood and bad things.
4. Even that he is a child does not mean he should not be responsible for their actions and for that the punishment that was given is fair enough because the girl's death could not be in vain and someone must pay for it.
I think that peter is a grown boy; he knows what is good and what is bad. But he was just playing with the girl, and despite, he was older than she, and was stronger than her, he was just playing like all the kids at his age, and he got carried away by the emotion of the game. Maybe he wasn’t trying to hurt her; he just wanted to pretend to be a “profesional wrestler”, he was following his role. Maybe it was an accident. I think, that guys from that age are available to kill someone, because, nowadays there is a lot of evil in the world, and even in the homes, the kids, since they born, they see it on TV, they live it, that everybody is fighting for no reason. Kids from 13 years old can kill someone, with or without intention. Kids from now are really aggressive. If he was just playing he shouldn’t got that punishment, the Court should sent him to, like something as a camp to try to be a better person, and help others, and get some mental treatments.
ResponderEliminarI think that maybe he is telling the truth but this doesn’t is an excuse for do what he does. Maybe his intention doesn’t want to hurt the girl but he is able to know what is good and what is bad. Nowadays the children are so different that are very smart and do things that childrens doesn’t suppose to do because the influence of the media they se a lot of things in the TV, the shows are so explicit, the video games have so much violence and they learn all this bad things. The punishment that they give to Peter is not good because he is a child but very fair, he is a child but he have to be responsible of this acts and maybe y some time he apply everything what he learn in this experience.
ResponderEliminarWell I think Peter was saying the truth because the kids (specially the boys) likes to play rude and also we have to remember that he was a kid and sometimes they don’t think about the consequences of doing an action that can kill or damage someone. Well is possible that a kid kill a girl on propose because the sometimes the kids had crazy ideas in their minds so they can possibly think in doing this action and we can also think about in the bulling that is a very common problem in the kids, but in the case of Peter I don’t think so because they supposed to be playing and also an adult should be taking care of they. In these days kids are a kind of different as d they was years ago because they, now used to be all the day watching T.V. so they get influence of some T.V. shows. I think that Peter punishment doesn’t have to be very severe because he is a kid an also any adult was taking care of him.
ResponderEliminarConsidering that Peter is a very young boy, he has lived enough to know when he can do some things and when he can't. Society thinks that those kind of games between boys at that age are completely normal, perhaps Peter Was saying the truth and he was just playing without considering the fragility of the little girl. Maybe he was just pretending to be a wrestler. Kids nowadays are affected by a lot a patterns of violence that could involve: what they see or where they come from. How is the perspective of their life. We don't know if Peter's intentios were to kill the girl, so they should dig about what really happened.
ResponderEliminarIn this days we can found anything in internet or television and all the people have access to this things, also the children because the world are so global that in all the houses the families have televisions or computers with internet and the children can see everything that you can imagine, like programs that said bad words or show violence and the children learning that and acquire attitudes so strange and for that reason I think that the childhood it´s not the same than ten years ago and the fathers are to blame because they allow her sons to see this things instead to sends to play soccer or play hidden in the yard because they are so frustrated and the think that the child will gets hurts but are wrong.
ResponderEliminarHe is totally crazy!!!! I’m just kidding…I think that he’s lying, I’m just sixteen years old and I remember when I was thirteen and actually I know that teens have conscience and we know what’s good and what’s wrong.
ResponderEliminarI insist, someone with thirteen years knows what’s good or wrong, so I guess that he might intentionally killed her. But I agree with some of my classmates cause we cannot judge him, for instance if I grew up in a hard environment, with violence, I don’t know if I would think the same.
"Geezuz!" I guess guys nowadays are kind of different because of the T.V. and the violence of video games, we got to take care about what we look at, because we are not exempt of been influenced by this wave of violence.
And about the sentence that was giving to Peter Barton it’s very hard, sometimes laws are like weird, and I insist the sentence was harder than it should be..
Also for my final comment I think that God is the only one who can bring peace to our society and having him in our hearts is the only effective way to quit violence :)
Peter was only a child, and children pretend to be a hero from TV, for that reason they only repeat actions.Hence, I dont think that he wanted to kill the girl, he was only playing.However, he didnt take into account the damge he could provoke.Sometimes chldren change their behavior according to the place and people arround. Nowadays, children are totally diferent, the society provokes children live so fast.I consider Peter needed an oportunity, he needed to be treated by a phychology, not putting into a prison.
ResponderEliminarI was amazing about the reading because I cant imagine how a little child could kill a girl. Nowadays, children have a lot of technology and they spent time with that. I don’t think that Peter had the intention to kill the girl, perhaps he only wanted to repeat actions from TV or bloody games, in order to call her attention. Children change their behavior constantly. The reason could be other children around. Hence, I think Peter needed a Doctor in order to help him, maybe he suffered when he was a baby, The jail no was the best punishment for him, he needed an opportunity to change.
ResponderEliminarWell i think that peter was saying the true because peter like every kid likes to play, but peter didnt know what he was doing, he was just a kid and we cant say that he is a killer because he was not aware of what he was doing. Yes of course a kid could kill someone and he thinks that they are playing but they do not know that are doind something bad, but also it depends on the enviroment that you grow up because for example if your father always is fighting with your mom you are gonna think that is not a problem and you can do it when do you want. I think that children have changed because these days the education is more strict but there are some cases that parents let them do what they want and watch some programs in the T.V that are not allowed to them, then they want to be like the actors on the T.V.
ResponderEliminarAs children we were, we know that when we were kids we imitated our heroes of the TV, so Peter tells the truth, the bad thing is that adults don´t supervise or control what they see on TV, the real "educator" of children of today is the tv.
ResponderEliminarThe child had no intention of killing the girl in that sense, what he did was to imitate the actions of his "hero"of the tv, the tv shows that this is good and the children repeat that believing that this is okay.The values are lost, new generations are very different from previous ones, it is all about education.
The penalty given to the child seems a grave error, rather than punish the child in this way they should help with therapy and counseling, the problem lies in the way of educating children.
Thanks to all for your active participation on blog 1!! :-D. Feedback will be given on the following weeks :-)
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