The way adolescents commit crime seems
to get crueler every year. Teenagers bulling
someone with physical and mental impairment don’t surprise anyone anymore but setting
someone on fire? That makes the story different.
Steven Simpson from Barnsley, South
Yorkshire was an autistic teen with epilepsy and speech impairment. At his birthday party, he was bullied, had
tanning oil poured over him, was set on fire by Jordan Sheard, and eventually
died after sustaining significant burns.
He was taken to a specialist burns unit but died two days later.
Sheard, who turned Steven into a human
fireball eventually admitted starting the fire but claimed it was horseplay
gone wrong. He was sentenced 3 and the
half years on March 20th but will be released on license halfway through. He was found guilty to manslaughter but he’ll
only be jailed for 21 months. That was a
soft court sentence for serious offence.
Because teenagers are considered
the immature human stage, the law toward murder by them applies differently in
many countries. While the law does
strive to treat children and adults differently, it is hard to determine where
teenagers fit in this structure. Laws
toward teenagers should be stricter if not convicted as adults. For serious cases, the court needs to send
them to adult prisons, where patterns of delinquency are reinforced. Also, education not only from the school but
also from parents is needed because we can’t just blame entirely on teenagers.
March 22, 2013 4:55pm
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