Kids Who Kill And Too Young To Kill Essay

1817 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Mass media effect on youth

ABSTRACT: In society today, homicide rates rise and behind those rates we only see the adults who commit these heinous crimes of violence, but it has trickled down to the children. Throughout the duration of this paper you will see how the children are just as dangerous as the adults, and how it personally has affected my outlook on people. From murderous motives, mental illness, curiosity involving the media, and this idea that the kids are the victims too we see kids trading toys for time. INTRODUCTION: We have all been there, back when playing with Barbie and Ken was our idea of a great time. The times we would wait for the ice cream truck to come around, so we could have a nice cold snack on a hot day outside. It makes you wonder …show more content…

Eric Smith’s case has been mentioned on different documentaries of violent children two of which are Kids Who Kill and Too Young To Kill (A & E, 2017) (A & E, 2017). At his trial in 1994, Smith pleaded not guilty by means of insanity. It all began August 1993, when Eric traded his toys for time. Derrick Robie was a “practical jokester, he would know the ladies were coming up the street and he would lay his rubber snake on the sidewalk” Robie’s mother says in a Special Report with Derrick’s parents (YouTube, 2013). Derrick was just four years old when his mother let him walk to the local summer camp by their house. It was then that Eric Smith lured him into a wooded area and killed him by smashing his head in with a rock before sodomizing his body with a stick. Eric Smith was a boy who was bullied while he was in school and he was tired of it and wanted to show he was in power and in doing so he chose defenseless Derrick Robie as his victim. As of 2017, Eric Smith {now 37} is still in jail and has been denied parole eight times since his conviction. Albeit, there is an argument

Show More
Related

  • Ghosts From The Nursery Book Summary

    482 Words  | 1 Pages

    The book ghosts from the nursery: tracing the roots of violence which had been written by Robin Kar-Morse and Meredith S Wiley. Meredith S Wiley provides the person who reads an in detail look at child abuse and neglect. Morse and Wiley both discuss in detail the effects of neglect and abuse, looking at specifically at violence in children. The detail of the book is it follows a young male who is of the age of 19 years old named Jeffery, who is given the sentence of death row due to committing a murder when he was of the age of 16 years old. Jeffery’s case was a beautiful case study for the authors and audience to analyse and relate theories to. By looking at cases such as Jeffery and looking at other children who are in similar situation, both authors start to look at the honesty about the subtle and crucial years of infancy and early childhood.

    Read More

  • Making A Murderer Essay

    639 Words  | 2 Pages

    The sentencing of underage criminals has remained a logistical and moral issue in the world for a very long time. The issue is brought to our perspective in the documentary Making a Murderer and the audio podcast Serial. When trying to overcome this issue, we ask ourselves, “When should juveniles receive life sentences?” or “Should young inmates be housed with adults?” or “Was the Supreme Court right to make it illegal to sentence a minor to death?”. There are multiple answers to these questions, and it’s necessary to either take a moral or logical approach to the problem.

    Read More

  • Parents Must Prevent Children's Exposure to Video Game Violence

    1873 Words  | 4 Pages

    In recent years our society has experienced many tragedies in which teens have committed heinous crimes for no apparent reason. What inspired these attacks by teens on innocent victims? We live in a violent world and young people are exposed to this violence whether it's by television, music or the Internet. Video games have come under increased scrutiny as to whether or not the simulated violence in video games numbs children and teens to the consequences of real-life violence.

    Read More

  • Juvenile Justice: Should Teenagers Be Sentences As Adults

    719 Words  | 2 Pages

    On Friday August 16, 2013, Christopher Lane was shot in the back of the head by James Edwards, Chancey Luna, and Michael Jones in Duncan, Oklahoma. While looking on social networks Edwards mentions on his Facebook account: “I see death around the Coner” (Edwards). As a result, Edwards knew what he is doing, because why would you want to put stuff on Facebook about killing someone? While interpreting this quote, it tells me that Edwards knew what person he was going for. One defendant explains to the Police Chief, Danny Ford, “ We were bored and didn’t have anything to do, so we decided to kill somebody.” If the teenagers were bored, how can Edwards tweet that he sees death around the corner? According to Edwards Facebook status, he was planning to commit a crime. Remember, planning is the process of making plans for something. On April 19, 2013, Edwards updated a Facebook status saying: “When s**t gets serious... That n***a always #M.I.A. He bout to dropped from the team” (Edwards). Edwards knew who he wanted to kill, because Lane played on a baseball team for an Oklahoma College. In addition, Edwards Facebook updates says he was going to drop someone from a team, therefore, it shows that Lane was the target. James Edwards, C...

    Read More

  • Media Violence: Censorship Not Needed

    1589 Words  | 4 Pages

    One of the recent violent acts committed by minors was the massacre at Columbine High School. Later it was revealed that the murderers had listened to Marilyn Manson, played violent computer games (such as Doom), and watched The Basketball Diaries in which the lead character slaughtered his classmates and teacher in a very similar manner to the way the Columbine boys later did (Torr 14). Though the Columbine murders were horrific acts and were likely inspired by violent forms of media, they are atypical of mo...

    Read More

  • Essay On Juveniles Should Be Punsihed

    1291 Words  | 3 Pages

    The article “On Punishment and Teen Killers”, Jennifer Jenkins gives another example of how a teenager acts. She says “He [teen who killed the woman] reported to a friend, who testified at his trial, about his ‘thrill kill’ that he just wanted to ‘see what it would feel like to kill someone’” (Jenkins). As said earlier, children learn these

    Read More

  • Video Game Industry and Violence

    1359 Words  | 3 Pages

    Maker, J., Brittain, J., Piraino, G., & Somtow, S.  Children Who Kill.  World Press Review.  June 1993 v40 n6 p21-23.

    Read More

  • Violence in Television

    1911 Words  | 4 Pages

    When families sit down to watch television, they expect to watch family type of shows. Family type shows meaning rated PG or PG13, sitcoms and movies that do not include weapons, killing, foul language, and non-socially accepted actions. When children killing, they start to believe that it is accepted. Do children think that killing and hurting others and themselves have little meaning to the real life, children can become traumatized. Most killers or violators of the law blame their behavior on the media, and the way that television portrays violators. Longitudinal studies tracking viewing habits and behavior patterns of a single individual found that 8-year-old boys, who viewed the most violent programs growing up, were the most likely to engage in aggressive and delinquent behavior by age 18 and serious criminal behavior by age 30 (Eron, 1). Most types of violence that occur today links to what people see on television, act out in video games or cyberspace games, or hear in music. Media adds to the violence that exists today and in the past few decades. It will continue in the future if it is not recognized as a possible threat to our society. When kids go to a movie, watch television, play video games or even surf the web, they become part of what they see and hear. Soaking violence in their heads long enough becomes a part of the way they think, acts, and live. The line between pretend and reality gets blurred.

    Read More

  • Media Violence

    1852 Words  | 4 Pages

    In 1989 the results of a five year study by the American Psychological Association indicated that the average child has witnessed 8,000 murders and 100,000 other acts of violence on television by the time he or she has completed sixth grade. In further studies it was determined that by the time that same child graduates from high school he or she will have spent 22,000 hours w...

    Read More

  • Kids Are Kids-Until They Commit Crimes By Marjie Lundstrom

    1024 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although children are constantly being exposed to violence through movies, television, and video games which could influence the harm done, kids today are more sophisticated at a younger age; they understand the implications of violence and how to use violent weapons. In the article “Kids are Kids- Until They Commit Crimes”, Marjie Lundstrom explores the stories of two young boys, Lionel Tate and Thomas A. Preciado, who both commit violent crimes and try to play it off. Tate unsuccessfully tried to put pro wrestling on trial for “savagely beating a six-year-old girl..” and Preciado claimed he was mimicking a TV show of robbing a bank and was tried as an adult for stabbing the mini mart clerk to death. The real question is how do we know if these indications are true, if these children really were imitating or if those are all just excuses. It is absurd to argue that a modern child, who sees the effect of violence around him in the news every day, does not understand what it means to kill. The fact that child killers know how to load and shoot a gun is an indicator that they understand exactly what they are doing and should not be able to make excuses as such. With this it is proven that a child's surroundings do not fully influence their wrongful doings and the Supreme Court Justices shall retain their

    Read More

  • Children Commiting Murder: Too Young to Kill

    1937 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the twenty first century there have been many cases of kids committing murder, whether it is the relationships they hold at home or the video games they play, the environment a child is exposed to will affect their developmental process. Children are supposed to be innocent and pure without the desire to kill, yet in the last 50 years official statistics on Listverse.com suggest that over 1,100 kids have been found guilty of murder in England alone. The average age of a child that kills is just about fourteen years old. These kids are usually brought up in an environment that does not teach them right from wrong.

    Read More

  • Juveniles Should Be Tried as Adults

    2004 Words  | 5 Pages

    Experts argue that no one is predestined for a life of crime. They believe that influences such as repeated abuse, extreme neglect, poverty, media violence, and easy access to guns play the major role in molding children into criminals. The father of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer wonders, "If potential for evil is in the blood that some of us pass on to our children" (Seifert 23). In the quiet New York town of Savona, Eric Smith, age thirteen, intercepted four-year-old Derrick Robie on his way to a park recreation program and offered to show him a shortcut. Hesitatingly, Derrick set off with Eric.

    Read More

  • The Moral Side Of Murder Essay

    787 Words  | 2 Pages

    Michael Sanders, a Professor at Harvard University, gave a lecture titled “Justice: What’s The Right Thing To Do? The Moral Side of Murder” to nearly a thousand student’s in attendance. The lecture touched on two contrasting philosophies of morality. The first philosophy of morality discussed in the lecture is called Consequentialism. This is the view that "the consequences of one 's conduct are the ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness or wrongness of that conduct.” (Consequentialism) This type of moral thinking became known as utilitarianism and was formulated by Jeremy Bentham who basically argues that the most moral thing to do is to bring the greatest amount of happiness to the greatest number of people possible.

    Read More

  • Youth Crime Essay

    1527 Words  | 4 Pages

    The media has been focusing a lot of youth crime, which appears me to be on the rise. To explore this I have chosen to do research on this and focus on my main question, “What causes a youth to engage in criminal activity?” the main focus of this essay will be on the background of crime and how youth crime has changed, the major factors of what causes youth to engage in criminal activity, media use and perceptions.

    Read More

  • Cause and Effect Essay - Causes of School Violence

    2261 Words  | 5 Pages

    A widely accepted cause of the murders committed by children is violence in the media. The parents of three students killed at a high school in Padukah, Kentucky filed a $130 million lawsuit against the entertainment industry because they believe that violence in the media inspired the boy, Michael Carneal, who killed their children ("Media"). To some extent, these parents are correct in their assumption. On average, children watch television 16 to 17 hours per week, beginning as early as age 2 (Strasburger 129). Furthermore, when video games are added, some teenagers may spend as many as 35 to 55 hours per week in front of the television set (Straburger 129). Within these many hours of television viewing, there are many violent scenes. The National Television Viole...

    Read More

More about Kids Who Kill And Too Young To Kill Essay

Open Document