Should 10 year old who started wildfire be charged?

Will a Child Be Charged in the Fires? By MICHAEL LINDENBERGER
Wed Nov 7, 2:35 PM ET

The 10-year-old boy who accidentally started one of the worst California wildfires last month could face stern consequences, should prosecutors decide to bring charges. Though too young to be charged as an adult, the boy could still face millions of dollars in fines, removal from his home and possible detention as a ward of the state. For now the boy's fate - and that of his parents, who would be partially liable for any restitution payments he would have to pay - rests with Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley. His office told TIME he has not yet decided how to proceed. "The matter is under review," spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons told TIME on Monday. "No decision has been made."

To bring those charges, all Cooley must decide is whether the boy knew right from wrong - an easy standard to meet, other prosecutors in the state say. "That is a lot easier to establish than you would think," said Cyndi Jo Means, a deputy district attorney in nearby San Diego County who leads that county's juvenile division arson team. "Think of your own children, even very small children; most of the time they know when they did something wrong."


Despite the low hurdle to prosecution, Means contends the California juvenile justice system seeks to help young suspects, who can benefit from counseling and close supervision from the court and case workers. Children under 14 are nearly always charged as juveniles, not adults - no matter what the crime. "We try to help the child, and prosecuting them as adults would not be very helpful," Means said. Any finding of guilt, she added, would not follow the boy into adulthood.

more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20071107/us_time/willachildbechargedinthefires

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good job, captain plagarism

would all be appropriate consequences. Charging the kid with a crime, traumatizing him with court proceedings and publicity, separating him from his parents, sending him to "kid jail", and saddling his family with fines far beyond what they could ever *hope* to pay (thus ruining their lives) for something a child did by accident is NOT appropriate.

In cases like this, intent matters. We know that nearly all children experiment with fire at one point or another. The only difference between this kid and one of *our* kids was the extreme ill-fortune of having the wind/weather/land conditions be perfectly ripe for a wildfire, and then being unfortunate enough for a dropped match to ignite something, or an ember to get caught and carried by the wind.

My younger sister was about that age when she and a friend set the side of my Dad's toolshed on fire by accident. She got a spanking and a grounding, and the lesson was well-learned. She never played with fire again. When I think about this kid, I think about my sister, and I recoil at the thought of what her life would have been like if that fire had spread the way that this one did, and she had been punished like this. Yes, I realize that other people had their lives ruined too--by accident. That is not justification for ruining the life of *this* child on purpose. Such a punishment wouldn't do a thing to change what happened. It would just add one more ruined life to the pile--and a child's life at that.

Sometimes a small mistake can have massive consequences. That doesn't mean that we should massively punish for small mistakes.

Thank you.

I especially like your final line -" sometimes a small mistake can have massive consequences - it doesn't mean that we should massively punish for small mistakes. "

Not if it was unintended consequences.
But if his INTENT was to start a big brushfire, that's different.

If he was just a kid playing with matches, no.

My very grown up neighbor started a brushfire on an adjacent vacant lot a few weeks ago. It was an accident, albeit a dumb one.
He's not been charged with anything, although we're in a severe drought area with 'no burn' rules in effect.

Happily the fire department arrived in time to put it out after it was just about burned out anyway.

Nigh, I tell you. Fucky nigh!

not sure at all...



lost

At first I was in favor of the California law to charge people who start wildfires to the hilt, but now I'm not so sure. :(

And exponentially funnier as the age of the victim gets younger from 18.

:spray: what...no waterboarding for the little shit-eater?

Wait, no actually there isn't. It would actually accomplish nothing other than destroying a life that is really too young to understand the consequences of it's actions.

Silly me.

What do the Republicans want?

:rofl:

or the lighters that were left lying about. I mean, parents know that kids will play with fire, so why leave these things where kids can get them. There's really no good reason for a child to have access to matches or lighters any more than loaded guns.

but I think the parents should be responsible for the damage he caused. Of course, there's no way they can afford to do that, so a bunch of innocent people are screwed because of this kids accident. Personally, I'd say charge the parents if there's the slightest hint that they were neglectful in supervising the kid...

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or take some courses on safety, and so should the parents (assuming they were negligent; I haven't read how this fire started and if the parents were being negligent).

If a forest is that dry and cluttered to begin with logic says that a fire would've happened no matter what.

Setting fires can sometimes be ab indicator of abuse of the child

Just a couple of references, but have known for years that setting fires is one of the indicators of children who are physically abused


http://consumerlawpage.com/article/child_abuse.shtml

<snip>
Physical abuse of children includes all non-accidental physical injury caused by the child's caretaker. Indicators of children who are experiencing, or have experienced, physical abuse include:

* aggressive behavior, property destruction, or withdrawal
* fire setting
* injury to animals
* swelling, tenderness, and vomiting due to abdominal injuries
* repeated bruising, cuts, sprains
* swelling, dizziness, blackout, and/or retinal detachment due to head injuries
* fear of adult contact



http://www.volunteermatch.org/orgs/org47437.html
<snip>
Children, who are referred to CAUSES from 62 local child welfare agencies, may experience: severe shock, severely disrupted growth and development, multiple placements/history of disrupted placements, inappropriate sexual behavior, fire-setting, school adjustment issues, delinquent behavior, aggressive/violent behavior, and drug use.

I once had a student whose brother had childhood leukemia. His parents focused all their attention on their ill child. When my student was feeling neglected, he'd start fires. That got him the attention he wanted!